La mano, la testa, il cuore
by MikaHaeli8
Summary: A man struggling with his Dark side. Another man determined to destroy him. The woman who must choose between then. Who is The Hand, who is the Head, who is The Heart? Jak II-set, AU for many reasons. Rated for language/ sex/ violence/ strong themes.
1. Particularity

**A/N: Hi!...I'm back, with an almost completely canon story. No idea how often I'll update due to other commitments...it will be as often as possible. I promise. This one's "Jak II"-set, AU for many, many reasons, the first of which you'll discover as you read. Meanwhile, read, review, enjoy. ~MikaHaeli8**

_One, two._

He reached up and pushed all his body up towards the ledge above him. He was exhausted, having wandered about this place for what felt like hours. He was almost there now. He felt the putrid air lazily caress his fingertips as it swept over them, dissipating in the higher, darker reaches of the room. Sometimes after this particular episode, he would always wonder why this room was always open, and why those boxes – whatever their purpose was – were stacked in such a way as to allow an easy escape.

_C'MON, Jak. One. Two._

"C'mon, tough guy. Sure you haven't forgotten how to grab _ledges?_ Last I check you got opposable thumbs after all!"

Jak said nothing, apart from uttering a small growl of frustration. Never mind the shock of seeing another part of the palace other than the cramped and putrid cell in which he'd spent what was left of his twenty-second year, his twenty-third and twenty-fourth birthdays in. He snorted when Daxter had told him this and replied, rather dryly, that he felt three, maybe four times that.

_One._

He took a deep breath, coiling his body, tensing it. For once, Daxter wasn't talking, allowing him to think for the first time in two years.

_Two._

He leapt up and grabbed the edge, letting out the breath he'd been holding in, lifting his head up as far as he could. Behind him, Daxter applauded, letting out a loud "WHOO!" that echoed around the room.

"Dax! D'you want us to be recaptured by Krimzon Guards and tortured for _another_ two years?" Jak hisses, purple Eco sparks coming off him.

"Yeah, well, if they try then they gotta go through me first!" Daxter proclaimed boisterously. Despite himself, Jak's face unveiled a small smile. _Ah, buddy, I've missed you._

He hauled himself up on the box athletically, stabilising himself as the box wobbled slightly. He crouched down, palms flat on the box, heart beating, ready to leap in case the box suddenly collapsed or fell altogether. When the reunited dynamic duo were certain that the box was stable, Jak straightened up, taking tentative steps towards the large square hole in the wall, where the putrid wind that had caressed his fingertips before now hit him full-on in the face, filling every available orifice with a smell that made him recoil.

_So this is what Haven smells like, huh,_ he noted dryly.

"So, I guess you're keen to get back to Keira, huh," Daxter remarked, just as dry as his best friend's thought.

_Did he just –_ Daxter's said best friend whipped his head around. "Keira? She...she's still alive?" _Precursors,_ _am I still dreaming?_

"Yeah, she is." For the first time, Daxter's gut warned him to stop there, not wishing to reveal to Jak what Keira's situation was, or whom.

"Dax..." Jak's dark-blue eyes were wide open and staring at the ottsel. "How _is_ she? Does she think I'm dead? Is she okay? Has..." He faltered as his mind spoke the words his mouth refused. _Is she with someone else? Is he treating her right?_

Daxter shifted very uncomfortably on his best friend's shoulder even as the Eco-infused human figure hauled himself onto the flat brick of the gap.

_One._

He looked down at the three-storey jump below him. For the first time in a long time, he didn't buckle at the thought of a death-inducing jump. The deep breath he had taken in at that "one" was burning in his lungs, the oxygen well and truly replaced. Exhaling, he crouched, hands sliding down the side.

_Two._

Releasing the sides, he closed his eyes, thought of Keira and jumped.

When he stopped falling, he opened his eyes, amazed he hadn't broken a single bone during his jump.

_Right_, he thought to himself. _I've got a girlfriend to claim back._

"Right, buddy," Daxter said. "You got a girlfriend to get back,"

Jak gave him a look. "Since when have you been able to read minds?"

Daxter just wiggled his eyebrows. "Not just yours, but the _laydeez_ minds too. They want a piece of me _really_. They _all_ do. They just pretend they don't."

Jak shook his head and moved off in the direction where he hoped the garage was.


	2. Anticipatory

**A/N: Hello again! Last update for a while as Marn is down til Sunday. It's our 6-month mark next Monday, see ^_^ To answer your questions: Becks, re-read the first chapter carefully, it does say (hint: "twenty-second year"). JKA: I'm really not planning on killing off Keira this time. That one's a cert. :D**

**Also, PLEASE go and see "127 Hours" if you haven't. It's fckuing brilliant. Unless you're faint-hearted. I'm not and I got lightheaded. ANYWAY, GO AND SEE IT but not before reading and reviewing this chapter. See y'all Sunday/ Monday. ~ Mika**

**WARNING: Implied...themes. I'll say no more, but don't say I didn't warn you.**

The house was silent for once, the little one being fast asleep and his father not being home. That in itself was a laugh; the boy didn't know his father.

Or at least, it was silent until the doorbell rang, at which point Keira Hagai jumped out of her skin with a combination of surprise and terror. Heart pounding, she ran to the door, opening it to see a thin, tattooed face, light blue eyes staring straight through her.

"Torn?" she gasped.

"Is he home?" he said, speaking in a fast, low and urgent tone and looking around just in case the "he" in question was close.

"No, he won't be back til late. Come in quick, before someone sees you," she whispered in her usual slightly gravelly tone. Torn complied and the young woman clicked the door shut behind her inconspicuously. She leaned against it, uttering a long sigh of relief.

"How's Daniel?" Torn asked, shedding his coat. Keira took it before he dropped it on the floor as he usually did.

"He's good, he's asleep right now. How's being in the KG?"

Torn twisted his mouth in answer.

Keira's shoulders fell. "You should leave..."

"I'm about to. I was going to hand in my notice today," Torn replied. "Look, Keir...I don't know how much longer I can keep seeing you before Erol starts to get suspicious..."

"Why? It's not like I'm playing away," she said, tilting her chin in defiance. "Although the way he treats me, I might as well be whoring myself out to the entire male population of Haven." Unconsciously, she rubbed her exposed forearms.

The older man gave a dry chuckle. "You're saying I should leave and yet you...you're more his prisoner than Jak."

The mechanic's head shot up at the name. "Have you heard anything about – ?"

Torn bit the insides of his cheeks, wondering if he should answer.

"No, then." Her tone was disappointment wrapped up in a ribbon of bitterness. She pulled her shoulders in, folding her arms, her hands on her upper arms as if she was cold. It had been two whole years since Jak disappeared and every day, she was more and more convinced that his body was rotting in the stomach of a Metal Head. Or worse, getting eroded by the Wasteland sands. She was understandably anxious, but she couldn't voice those anxieties to Erol. Talking about Jak, well...let's just say it more than upset him.

"Keir, I'm sorry. If I knew anything about it, you'd be the first to know." The Commander's tone was uncharacteristically gentle.

"Then why did you come here?" Her tone was uncharacteristically cold, and the other man took a step back.

"To see how you and Daniel were? To see if you'd heard anything before me?"

"Thought you'd know more, given that the last time anyone saw me, he was fighting KGs," she snapped. Suddenly, she seemed to shudder, her face and body losing the hard language it had just spoken. "I..." She swallowed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be that...that w-way." She locked her jaw, saying no more. _I'm turning into Erol._

Torn ran his tongue over his lips in a subtle manner. "I understand."

"Y-you'd better go. Before Erol gets back," she whispered, eyes lowered to the ground.

"Yeah," he replied thickly, voice hoarse. As hard as his exterior was, letting people down played on his slightly softer interior a great amount. He took his coat from Keira's hanging hand, his fingers accidentally brushing against hers. Her green eyes shifted to meet his paler ones and for just a moment, the world – and their breathing – stopped spinning. Breaking the gaze, Torn shouldered his coat and continued down the small hallway, opening the door and slamming it shut again.

A split second after that, Keira heard small footsteps above her, and she fled up the stairs to tend to her son. Somehow, he'd managed to unlock the door too, despite the fact the locks were higher than him. His mother shook her head and chuckled, scooping her toddler up in her arms and holding him close, bringing him out onto the landing.

"A troublemaker. Just like your father," she whispered in his ears. Daniel Hagai had never known his real father, having only known Erol as a dad. Keira had been taken in by the Captain when she herself didn't know she was pregnant, although Erol's untoward behaviour had already started in the following night. Somewhat amazingly, he had backed off through the pregnancy, but after Daniel was born it only got worse.

Several times Keira had vowed to escape, or tried to. Each time, he always caught her.

"I promise you, Daniel..." She squeezed her eyes shut, burying her face in his hair. "I promise you. Soon. As soon as I hear about – "

_SLAM._

Diving back into Daniel's bedroom, Keira looked furtively at the clock. _No. It can't be that time already, can it? Please Mar, don't let it be that time!_

That last door slam rang like the chimes of doom in her ears.

Then she heard him yell.

"KEIRA! Where are you?"

"It's okay, Danny," she softly reassured her frightened son. "Just stay here, okay? I'll go and see what Daddy wants..."

"Are you in here? Get down here, you whore!"

She squeezed her son one last time, then walked out the room, closing the door behind her and trying to resign herself to what she knew was coming.


	3. Prosperity

**A/N: Heeeelllooooooo there, thanks for your reviews and suchlike. I'm back! From spending time with mah man...NOT ALL OF IT WAS SEX, JKA, I know what you were getting at in your message ;) I live with my parents, y'know...Anyway. Chapter 3 with a seemingly random event. Read, review, no Ch.4. ~ Mika**

_Mar damn it, where _am _I?_

Either the city had changed in the two years of Jak's imprisonment, or the Dark Eco in his system had also affected his memory, he was just getting old or all of the above.

"Left here," Daxter suddenly spoke up as Jak passed an alley. He skidded to a halt in surprise.

"You can _remember_ this stuff?"

"Yeah, course. I didn't spend the last two years runnin' 'round this place without pickin' up a few memory points...or memories." Daxter smirked as private memories flooded back before him. Jak raised his eyebrows, taking the advised left as he allowed a small smile to cross his face. Shaking his head, he ventured onwards, wishing there was some sort of light so he could at least see where he was –

"Ay, Daxter!" a voice said, followed by a flood of light from a side door which had obviously just opened.

"Ah, Johann! How ya doin', buddy?" the ottsel greeted cheerfully enough, but his tone belied an undercurrent of nervousness. The man he addressed as 'Johann' spoke with a foreign accent.

"Daxterrh...You owe me money, yes?"

"Hey, Jo, bud, I said I'll get it to ya soon!"

"Ay, Daxter, but that was over a year and a half ago!" The silhouette of the man put his hands on his hips. "I am running into debt and I have need of the moneys right now."

"Johann, Johann." Daxter showed his palms to the stranger, attempting to pacify him. "Buddy. I'm sorry for your trouble, but I can't help you right this minute. I gotta get this guy back home, 'kay? Jak, _run_!" he hissed to the blonde man, who happily began to comply, but was soon stopped by the barrel of a large gun.

"Oh no, Daxter. You and your owner aren't going anywhere!"

"Hey! He's not my owner! If anything I own him! Jak, kill!"

He was met with a scathing look.

Daxter turned his attention back to the large Dutch/Italian. "Johann, let's be reasonable...we can talk..."

"De time for talking is over, rat!" Johann hissed. Two muscled goons flanked either side of the foreigner and he barked an order at them.

"Uhh, Jak...I think we better run?" Daxter's voice rose so high in pitch he was almost shrieking. Jak, however, felt the familiar raring-for-a-fight feeling pooling in his gut like a refreshing drink landing.

"Nuh uh, Dax. I'm not running this time." With a smirk, Jak spin-kicked a muscled goon's shin, sending him flying to the floor. Rounding on the other creature, he sent a fist flying into its stomach, causing it to double over in agony. Jak was just about to organise a meeting between his foot and the goon's nose when suddenly, a roar ripped from his throat as his appearance changed completely, eyes blackening, skin and hair a strange ash-purple colour. Dark claws sprouted from his fingertips, bursting through his skin.

And a new desire came over him; the desire to kill.

He never remembered what happened during the next five or ten minutes...however long that he was..."like this", as he would later call it. All he knew is that those goons were big silhouetted lumps of still muscle and black blood pooling from their bodies.

And his hands were covered in it.

"Shit!" he hissed as he heard voices growing in a crescendo down the alleyway.

"Uh, Jak?" Daxter said nervously. "I think now is the time to run – "

Without another word, Jak took off faster than his legs could carry him. As Daxter inexplicably yelled directions in his long ears, he followed them, his instinct reacting as he flew. _This feels familiar,_ he thought. _Why does it feel so familiar?_

He didn't have long to wonder, though, as Daxter suddenly yelled for him to "STOOOOOOOPPPPPP!". Skidding to a halt, his breathing was heavy, his heartbeat so fast he could barely feel it. Something throbbed in his head, causing waves of pain to spread through it – no doubt the effects of...well, whatever had just happened to him.

"Shit!" he breathed, long and desperate, doubling over to regain his breath. He had his eyes shut, so he didn't notice where he was. A freezing cold breeze caressed his face lazily.

"Hey! What you did back there?" Daxter piped up.

"Mmmm?" Jak grunted.

"That was cool. Do it again."

"Shi..." Jak shook his head. "I...Daxter...it must have been s-something he did. I...can't control it!" He squeezed his eyes shut, his breathing slower now, more controlled – which was more than he could say for his Dark side. "It was the Dark Eco..."

"Yeah, I thought it was sumthin' like that," Daxter agreed. "Buddy, straighten up. Take a deep breath...and look where you are."

It was rare that Daxter was listened to by _anyone_, but for the millionth time that night, Jak did as his furry best friend said. He blinked a few times to regain control of his vision before looking around. Clear skies. Open lawns. High walls, structuring everything. Statues of Mar.

Several flights of stairs.

_Holy shit, I'm home._

"I'm home?" he breathed, not trusting his own mind.

"Yeah, buddy." Daxter replied, a grin crossing his face. "You're home free."

For the first time in two years, the tortured young man let a cleansing sigh ripple through him as a great weight was lifted off his shoulders.

_I'm home..._

He turned to head into the Stadium, heading towards the garages. He looked at the clock hanging along the walls. Nine a.m.

She'd be there. He knew it.

_Sono l'eroe di questa storia, non ho bisogno di essere salvato._


	4. Endlessly

**A/N: Hello there, thanks for reviews! And for the lingua-italiano messaggi, FES :D Any of you seen Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds"? If so...I kinda borrowed from it. Read, review, enjoy. ~ Mika**

_**10a.m.**_

Keira, Erol and Daniel ate at the table as always. Erol would never have it any other way, and if it was, he ensured Keira knew it was _his_ way or she'd be on the streets. The mechanic kept her head down, avoiding Erol's intense gaze as she fed her son one bite at a time before turning to her own food. She also resisted the urge to press her glass of water to her face to tend to the large purple bruise Erol had painted on her face last night.

"So, Hagai, you never answered my question," he said quietly. "You've been avoiding my question for the best part of two years."

Keira began trembling. She knew what he was inferring.

"I assume you realise I'm talking about little Danny's father?" He leant back in his chair, staring at his fingers in a way that looked like he was looking at his nails. "No...you _know_, Keira. You know, don't you?"

She fought the urge to recoil at 'Danny'. Nobody called him that but _her_. Still, she continued feeding him, spooning dribbles into his mouth. His calm blue eyes gazed at her as if he was trying to read her inner thoughts. _Just like his father_, she thought, her heart twisting.

Erol sat back, tapping his spoon on the table. "Are you avoiding my question again?"

"No," she replied quietly, keeping her gaze on her son.

"Who is little Danny's father?" the Captain queried again. His voice was low and dangerous, preceding something only Keira knew. "I swear he looks like someone I know. Or rather, someone I knew..."

Keira kept her jaw clenched, her hands shaking hard as she continued feeding her son. It was mechanical more than necessary now. Silence screamed in her head like a high-pitched whistle permeating her long, sensitive ears; piercing her skull.

"His father disappeared before he was born, right?"

"Right," Keira echoed in that same raspy tone.

Erol leant forward, smiling maliciously. "And that was just before you came to me,"

"Yes," she replied shortly.

"Before you even knew you were expecting him,"

"Yes," she lied, hardly daring to breathe. Her heartbeat hummed in her ears, joining with the high-pitched whistle of silence. Daniel coughed and automatically, she wiped his mouth.

"So, the question remains..." Erol took a long, healthy draught of his drink, setting it down on the table. The hollow "thonk" that came from it hit Keira's head, causing it to hum with pain. _Go, Erol. Just go out. Go and bully innocent civilians. Go and kill people. Just go..._

"Who, Keira?"

His tone was soft, coaxing an answer.

"Who co-created this beautiful little boy, hmm? Who _really_ brought him into the world?" He plastered a soft smile on his face, brushing one finger under the toddler's chin. The little boy's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, frozen, like his mother, in abject fear. The blue-haired mechanic's body was rock. _If you hit him, I'll kill you..._

It seemed like an age before Erol's finger left Daniel's chin. He then turned his steely-eyed gaze upon his girlfriend – his prisoner, his slave – and narrowed his eyes, his tone becoming harsh.

"Who willingly fucked _you_ and brought him into the world, eh?"

Her head shot up and she met his eyes. _Two years. It's been too long_.

He whistled in response, getting up and lazily winding around the table to stand behind her. "You're giving me the "bastard" look again, Keira. You're giving me that look. You know where that look _gets_ you?" He slammed his hands down on her shoulders and squeezed them hard, causing her to stiffen up in pain. She kept on staring ahead whilst he lowered his head and hissed in her ear. "You know where that gets you, you whore,"

Beside them, Daniel began to cry.

Erol ignored him, sliding his hands slowly up her neck, her chin, her ears, up to her scalp. To the casual observer, it was almost seductive. He suddenly and violently knotted his rough, calloused hands deep in her hair until his nails were scratching her scalp. Slowly, he closed his hands, encasing fistfuls of hair. Keira heard and felt hairs being ripped from her scalp, and she fought the urge to wince and flinch in pain, or even move to comfort her son whilst he howled in obvious distress.

"I have to go now," he hissed, "but I'll deal with you later!" Suddenly releasing her long blue locks, he left the house, slamming the door after him.

The mechanic didn't move until she was sure he'd gone. She reached over to Daniel, held him in her arms and rocked him back and forth, trying to comfort him as he sobbed his little heart out.

"I know, Danny," she whispered, tears making tracks down her own pale face. Her scalp throbbed from where Erol's hands had just been. "I know...I know...It's now, darling. It has to be."

_I'll die if I stay here._

She stood up and fled upstairs to her room, setting Daniel down on the bed and dragging out a suitcase. She opened all her drawers and flung everything of hers in it, not wishing to further contaminate them with Erol. She sobbed more as she emptied the house of everything that was hers and Daniel's, locking him into his stroller in the hall. She stood one final time, surveying the house, her prison for so long.

Despite the cold air of the house, she already felt the sunlight on her face.

"So long, Erol," she whispered, throwing the keys on the floor and opening the door, only to see Torn waiting in his Hellcat.

"Come on!" he yelled.

_You've got some timing, Commander. _Keira nodded ferverently, slamming the door hard behind her and running up the path to the waiting Hellcat. Opening the boot, she unlocked Daniel from the stroller, putting that and everything else in it before slamming it shut. She hopped into the passenger side, buckling herself and Daniel up.

"I quit today!" Torn yelled.

"You did?" Keira almost laughed in joy. "That's two of us who are free then!"

Torn nodded. "Anywhere else you need to go?"

The mechanic's green eyes widened in shock as she realised. "The garages! I need to get my tools."

"The Stadium?" he queried. Keira nodded. The new-former Commander stamped on the accelerator pedal and the Hellcat shot off, leaving behind nothing but bad memories and an entirely haunted two years.


	5. Shared Memory

**A/N: Heey, thanks for the bilingual reviews! JKA: don't worry about not understanding Italian. Marn doesn't either; he uses Google Translate. Anyway! Chapter Five. Read, review, tell me if they're OOC...although it's AU, they're slightly meant to be. ~ Mika**

The familiar smell hit him like a punch from the past as he walked into the garage. He would often spend long hours here with Keira as she worked around him, helping her occasionally and always bringing her hot drinks when her energy flagged (which happened more often than you wouldhave thought).

As his fingertips brushed the familiar textures, he wondered if this new man of hers did that too. His heart fell with the weight of bitterness, with only a hint of anger. Since being sprung from prison, he hadn't had time to stop and wonder why she didn't wait. She was usually so..._steadfast_, waiting patiently. Precursors knew that she'd waited to kiss him long enough.

_What's changed you?_ He silently asked. _What could have happened..._

"These don't look like they've been used in years," his best friend commented, ever the first to break the silence and his train of thought. With a shock back to reality, Jak rubbed his fingers, seeing that they were covered with an ashen sheen. _Dust._

"At least two," he agreed out loud.

"I guess this new man o' hers wouldn't let her use her tools?" Daxter ventured, suggesting more than he knew. "Though, honestly, I can't imagine any man bein' able to handle her, though I'm sure _I_ would be able to..."

Missing – or perhaps, ignoring – the reference to Keira's "new man", Jak stopped, sending a particular look to his best friend. "Ya mind not hitting on my girlfriend?"

"No offence buddy, but in case it's escaped your attention, she ain't been your girlfriend for the best part of two years,"

The escapee let out a sigh that sounded like an extended 'beh'. He walked over to an inconspicuous tarpaulin-covered shape in the middle of the room and tentatively lifted a corner. Something glimmered in the dim light, further peaking Jak's curiosity. With an uncharacteristically flamboyant flourish, he lifted the cover completely off the odd, lumpy shape.

What he saw made his heart buckle as memories suddenly flooded his brain.

~x~

_**Two years earlier**_

"Show me!"

"No, it's not finished!"

A bout of laughter.

"Please, Keir. You've been keeping this secret for _ages_."

The mechanic folded her arms. "No."

"_Plllleeeeeeaaassseee!_" the blonde whined like a child.

She raised her eyebrows in response. "Not if you're gonna whine at me like that."

"Can I at least have a _hint?_"

"Oh, _okay_," she huffed melodramatically. "But you can't tell anyone else!"

Jak drew a finger over his chest in a cross.

"Vehicle."

" 'Kay, so it's a Zoomer. Like every other vehicle in this place."

She looked hurt. "Jak, I said I'd give you a hint and I did. A hint isn't normally very long! 'Sides, this one's special."

"Special how?"

She leaned in close, tapping his nose. "That's for me to know, dear. Now go! Don't you have some Metal Heads to fight or somethin'?"

The warrior folded his arms stubbornly. "Not until you tell me why this Zoomer's special."

She sighed again, rolling her eyes. "This one's got three seats instead of the usual two, and it's got some protection in the back seat instead of being completely open. You _can't_ tell _anyone else_ about this!"

"Not even Daxter?" her boyfriend teased, smirking.

"ESPECIALLY not Daxter!" Despite herself, Keira chuckled.

"Question."

"Yes?"

"Why make a Zoomer with three seats?"

She opened and shut her mouth like a fish, wondering whether to tell him or not. Before her brain decided, however, her mouth spat out a lie. "A...There's a gap in the market. F-for families, you know, with a little one." _Or a little one on the way._

The blonde man nodded, swallowing the lie smoothly. "Ah, right. Gap in the market. I see."

_Like us, Jak. A little one on the way...like us._ At least she thought so. She was only going on a feeling and missed periods. She had yet to take a test, or go to the doctor's for a scan, just for certainty.

She shook the thoughts from her head and laughed at her boyfriend. "Yes. Now go! And for the love of Mar, _please_ do not break the Hoverboard again."

"Or...?" One green eyebrow raised.

Keira ran a finger suggestively down his chest. "Or I won't give _your_ parts a going over later, if you know what I mean...and I think you do."

An "Ah" escaped the young man's mouth. "Got it," he nodded, cheeks colouring. "Do not crash Hoverboard or – "

"YES," Keira said loudly to cut him off. "Now go and beat up some KG or something. Just...don't break anything. And keep safe." She kissed him once, a brief, fiery kiss, and then pushed him out the garage door, shutting it with a giggle.

He scratched his head and walked off, chuckling to himself.

~x~

_**Present**_

Keira snapped back to reality just as Torn pulled up outside the Memorial Stadium, lowering it enough to allow Keira to reassure her son that she'd be back and hop down from the vehicle. Facing her garage for the first time in months, she sighed, shaking her head. _No Erol to stop you now, Keir_, she reminded herself, a small surge of encouragement and liberation rippling through her. Carefully pacing into the room, she inhaled the faded scent of oil and sweat, catching a hint of what she swore was Jak, which made her heart ache. Although she'd pretended to give him up for dead just to make Erol back off from asking the "Daniel's father" question, she'd never stopped hoping he'd suddenly turn up one day, irritatingly cocky grin on his face.

Snapping herself out of her reverie, she grabbed her slightly-dusty tool bag, snatching tools off the wall one at a time, being careful not to hit herself. Her heart raced in her chest, her breathing quickened and she felt lightheaded, almost euphoric, almost unable to believe she was free. It had finally hit her with all the full force of (and call this an ironic comparison if you may) one of _his_ punches.

She allowed herself a joyous little laugh.

"I've missed that laugh..."

Her laugh freezing in her throat with her body, she turned slowly, hands feeling for the wall. She recognised that voice. She knew it all too well.

"Jak?" she whispered. "That you?"

She couldn't see him. However, she noticed that the still-unfinished three-seat Zoomer in the centre of the room was uncovered.

"What's that doing...?" she began to ask herself, frowning as she approached it, pulling the tarpaulin back over it. Suddenly, a scraping sound tugged her head up. Smoothing the tarpaulin, she cautiously padded round the front of it, craning her neck, peering into the shadows cast by the large machine.

"Yeah, honey, we're here," a dry voice spoke from the shadows, at which point Keira literally fell over in shock.

"_Daxter?_" she hissed.

"And...?" a deeper male voice sounded.

A flood of recognition overwhelmed her. She said nothing for a second, just got up and moved towards the shadows. She _wanted_ to say it; her heart and mind knew it.

She half-wanted it to be true.

"Jak...?"

"Yeah, honey." His voice became softer as he emerged from the darkness. "It's me."


	6. Triangularity

**A/N: HelLO everyone, thankyou for reviews! This one's literally hot off the press because I'm a lazy cow...who also has little time to get ahead of herself this-story-wise. I hate college...F'nar well, this is unedited, so sorry if you find any errors. Also, read, review, enjoy, clench thy fists in anger at Erol. Because that's who he is. ~ Mika**

Erol strode confidently into the Palace, steadfastly ignoring everybody who stiffened up before and either side of him, getting out of his way. After this morning's little...incident, he felt a touch more confident than before, feeling a glow that normally only swept him post-coitus. He felt a little lighter today.

_If only Keira would be more obedient_, he thought, with just a whisper of regret underlining it_, rather than flirting with everything that moved_.

As quickly as that, his good mood disappeared, his blood boiling again, as it always did whenever he thought of her. Precursors, but he – _whoa, old boy, wait up._ He would admit he loved her, but that would be admitting weakness on his part. He...enjoyed controlling her. It gave him a sense of power his job did not.

"Erol," the deep, rumbling voice of the Baron reached his ears. "I need to speak with you. Come with me,"

Automatically, he stiffened up straight, giving an equally automatic salute. "Yes sir! What is the issue?"

"If you came with me, I would tell you," the Baron replied coolly.

Erol locked his jaw in something resembling embarrassment, dutifully following the Haven City leader into a large, sparsely-furnished room. The broad man in front suddenly stopped, turning to face the young man, who managed to stop before he bumped into him.

"First of all..."

"Yes?" the

"WHY DID YOU ALLOW THE PRISONER TO ESCAPE?" the older man roared, making Erol stumble back.

For a moment, the redhead was speechless, his murky eyes widening. "What? H-he _escaped?_"

"Yes he did!" the Baron seethed, as red as the Guard policing the city. "Someone sprung him from the Programme. What I want to know is why you did not return to kill him after the Underground's attack on the Weapons Factory?"

Erol was understandably speechless. "Sir, I was on my way to do so, but further incidents pushed that act to the back of my mind – "

"And then completely out of it, clearly!"

"Sir, you yourself understand how strong the Underground was in those six months before yesterday!"

The Baron growled, turning his back on the Captain, cloak billowing dramatically, whipping the younger man in the face. A few lengthened, silent minutes passed before he spoke again. "Despite this...mishap, I've asked you here to make you an offer. Commander Torn resigned yesterday. That position is still open and you are now the best man for the job..."

"C-Commander?" Erol breathed, still recuperating from that tongue-lashing. "Me?"

"Yes. You." The Baron turned back to face him. "Don't tell me you haven't secretly wanted it all along. I've seen you in your dealings; you have the right amount of ruthlessness and mercilessness to become Commander. So? What's it to be?"

"With all due respect, sir, I think you know my answer," the newly-anointed Commander answered, feeling very lightheaded.

"Excellent." The Baron did not smile. "I'll inform the armoury about this. Meanwhile, you're dismissed, Commander."

Erol saluted again, struggling to maintain his composure. "Yes, sir," he replied stiffly, before turning and striding out the room, a sharp grin on his face.

He estimated his first real duty as Commander would be to find the freak.

Or if not, he'll hunt him down personally.

~x~

Outside the Stadium, Torn switched off the engine and shifted around in his seat, checking quickly on the silent toddler in the backseat. He wondered why Keira was taking so long; the day was getting brighter and his stomach was rumbling. Truthfully, he thought he'd heard voices before chiding himself – _you've been in the Guard too long, Torn._ Daniel was still awake, rich blue eyes wide and fixed on the door, waiting for his mother to return. There was fear in that child's eyes, something which got to the former Commander. Sometimes, especially with situations such as this, emotion made him uncomfortable.

He sighed, opening the door and hopping to the ground, slamming it shut behind him. Daniel gazed at him silently from over the car door, a plea in his eyes. Torn sighed.

"Oh, alright," he said gruffly. "Sit back, kid, I'm gonna open the door on ya. 'Kay?"

Daniel nodded and sat back. Torn opened the door, pushed it to the hinges' limits and reached out to the kid. He was a little reluctant at first, but eventually placed himself between Torn's hands, which then grasped him and lifted him to the ground. The little one staggered a bit before looking up at the former Commander, who then offered a hand.

"Come on then," he said. "Let's go see what Mummy's doing,"

Nodding, the boy wrapped his fingers around Torn's calloused index and middle finger, and the two males walked towards the stairs of the Stadium, the wind whistling in their ears.

~x~

Back in the Mar Memorial Stadium garage, Keira didn't know how to react. Truthfully, neither did Jak. Laying eyes on her for the first time in the best part of two years, he was shocked to see the change in her. Two years ago, she'd stood with confidence and a touch of pride; now, she almost cowered before him, her shoulders slightly hunched, pulled in defensively. She was also very thin, much thinner than she had been. What exposed flesh was covered in faint but sickening green and yellow patches like combat gear.

Or almost as if she had been the opponent of some vicious enemy.

Fear rested in her eyes instead of the light and love he saw whenever he looked at her. He wondered if she'd heard about his...Dark side; news travelled fast in this town. He wondered whether she had ever truly given up on him; how long she had waited before finding this new guy of hers.

In his (admittedly limited) experience, f there was a sign of a woman giving up on a man, it was finding a new one to replace him.

A new wave of bitterness and jealousy swept over him as he looked at her. Suddenly realising what he was feeling, he looked away so she couldn't see what the Baron and Erol had put in his eyes.

"Jak?" she said softly. "Wha...You're alive."

"Yes, alive and well," he said, the bitterness evident in his voice, still not looking at her. He heard a small gasp utter from her, but no other movements.

"Where have you been?" she asked him.

"You don't want to know," he said shakily, returning his vision to her.

"Jak – "

"Honestly, Keira. You really...don't want to know." _It changed me._

"Why do you sound so angry?" she said, softly, fearfully. "Why..." A shaky sigh. "You...y-you've changed. I can see that...I can tell..."

"People _do,_ Keir," he said roughly. "You've changed too. What happened? This new man of yours?"

"Keira, is everything okay in here?"

All eyes immediately cut to the door where a thin, tattooed man had just walked in, small toddler in his hand.

"Oh look, it's the walking work of art!" Daxter cut in, slightly unnecessarily.

"_Jak?_" Torn's gaze fixated upon the changed twenty-four year old. "Shit. I didn't know you were alive..."

"You're only the second to find that out, Torn." Feeling his blood boil, the Dark Eco pushing at his skin, Jak cut back to Keira. "That means you can stop _hitting_ and _fucking my girlfriend_ now!"

The last thing he saw before blackness overtook him was Torn's eyes widening.

The last thing he felt was himself cutting through the air, hands aimed at the other man's throat.


	7. TensionOsity

**A/N: Hello there! Thanks for reviews and advice and the like. Sorry about lack of updates, been ill recently (am still technically ill now, not sure what's causing it :( ). But because I lurve you all I'm doing this chapter. And yes, I have gone through and edited it :) Read, review or no CAPITOLO OTTO (that's Chapter Eight to the rest of you). ~ Mika**

Daniel released Torn's fingers and shot across the garage to his mother the second Jak launched for the former Commander. Luckily for the man, his reflexes kicked in just as the ashen creature launched for his throat. Diving out of the way, he curled up defensively as the Jak-creature's claws plummeted into the wall behind the pair with a low _boom_. With a snarl, it wrenched its claws free and whirled towards the fallen man. Uncurling, Torn delivered a kick to the creature's face when it got within range of his legs. It swiped angrily, roaring in pain, catching Torn's trouser leg with one black claw. The former Commander's head hit the floor as he was dragged by the ashen creature for a very painful minute before he got the material free of the claw. Whirling around, as if realising its prey was trying to escape, the creature stumbled towards Torn, claws now elongated to its fullest. It bent over and grabbed a handful of material, lifting the dreadlocked man off the ground – and off his feet. Nose to nose, face to face, Torn struggled to free himself from the creature's grip just as it drew its free claw back, aimed it and swung it towards –

"_Stop!_"

That yell did its job, stopping the creature's claw dead, mere millimetres from its tattooed target.

Indicating to the terrified little boy in her arms that he should stay where he was, Keira slowly got up, standing up straight. Letting her eyes rest first on Torn and then the creature, which had reverted back to its normal self, she walked slowly towards the pair.

Jak, wearing a horrified expression, was still holding the soldier in the air.

"Jak, put him down," she said softly. Her lost boyfriend complied, scowling, no apology from his lips. She sighed, folding her arms almost defensively. "Look, Jak...Two years. It's...A lot can change in two years. A lot can happen,"

"No shit," Jak replied acerbically. "Evidently with _him_." He pointed at Torn to emphasise his point.

"No, it's not like that!" Keira pleaded, frightened he was going to "turn" again. "Not with him. Jak, he's _helped_ me and Danny over the last two years. He saved us today."

The blonde let out a long, low sigh. "Then who? Who've you been seeing? Whose prisoner have you been for the last two years?" He softened his tone. "Who changed you, Keir?"

"Who changed me?" she echoed, laughing humourlessly. "Who changed _you_, Jak?"

Jak sighed internally, debating whether to tell her here and now. He had no time to make a decision before Daxter cut in.

"Uhhh, hey lovebirds, sorry to break up your little reunion, but can we discuss this somewhere else?"

"The rat's right," Torn agreed, although one could tell by his tone that he did not like agreeing with the ottsel. "Jak, you're probably being hunted. Keira..." _So are you. By the same person._ "We need to get away before we're found," he eventually finished. _Let Keira tell Jak who's been her captor for two years._ "Keira, you got everything you need?"

The young woman nodded ferverently. Jak wandered over, placing his hand on the three-seat Zoomer.

"You never finished this?" he queried, not looking at Keira, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

"He...wouldn't let me," Keira answered, lowering her eyes almost in shame.

A surge of anger swept Jak in its current, and once again, he wondered who could possibly have enough power to even attempt to control someone as headstrong – as strong overall – as Keira.

Control her enough to separate her from doing what she loved.

"Let's go," Torn said shortly, getting uncomfortable with the developing atmosphere between the newly reunited couple. They seemed to snap out of their stupor, Keira calling her son over, and everyone left the garage quickly, scrambling into the Hellcat.

"By the way, where _are_ we going? I'm pretty sure..._he_ knows every angle and plain of the city," Keira wanted to know, shuddering at the last part.

"The Bunker," Torn replied, smoothly pulling off the vehicle.

"The Bunker?" Jak queried again.

"Underground HQ," Keira whispered in his ear. "The hideout? You remember?"

For a moment, his brain didn't take in the words, so relieved was his body to feel Keira's touch for the first time in two years.

Then it sunk in.

"It's still going?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah, course it is," Torn said dryly. "You'd think we'd stop without you?"

"Hey, Tattooed Wonder. Don't underestimate what he did before he disappeared!" Daxter interjected pointedly.

"Oh, like _you_ spent two years _only_ looking for him. I'm sorry, I _completely_ forgot about that," Torn replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Now shut up, rat, I gotta concentrate,"

"Don't you tell me to – " Daxter began indignantly before Jak slapped a hand over his mouth. Pushing it off, he looked indignantly at his best friend, who just looked at him back.

"So, Torn, you're still doing that double-agent thing you're a master at?" Jak asked the named man, an underscore of venom in his voice.

"Actually, I quit today,"

"Oh, so you've finally decided which side you're on then!"

Torn let out a long, loud, controlled breath and stomped on the accelerator pedal, causing the car to jolt.

"AH! Easy, ya walkin' work of art!" Daxter grumbled.

"Shut up, rat, or I'll go so fast you're gonna get thrown out of the damn thing," Torn growled.

Daxter shut up and clung onto Jak's shoulder pad safely.

~x~

_**Later**_

Keira smoothed down the blankets on the makeshift (single) bed she'd been given for the night. It was now nine in the evening and after the long day, she was exhausted. The same could not be said for Danny, who had made a new friend in the form of a small child known only as The Kid. Eerily to all concerned, the two mute little ones shared facial features that could only come from genetic relation – which was impossible due to the fact that as far as was known, the Kid had no family. Less eerily so, both children got on like a house on fire in their own silent manner.

"Danny! Beddy-byes!" Keira called when her young son bolted into the room, a blur of blue and yellow-tipped green in clothes and hair respectively. She moved so that he crashed into her arms, stopping instantly. Swooping him up and holding him tightly in her own, she swayed him back and forth, her green eyes looking deep into his own, wide blues. She listened out for footsteps before lowering her voice to a whisper. "You met your Daddy today. Not nasty Daddy, but your real Daddy."

Her son looked back at her, a protest in his eyes.

"I know...he was angry. Not at you, little one. Never at you," she whispered, smoothing down his hair. "I think...someone did something bad to him which made him angry. But the Jak I knew was never that...not before we came here." She shuddered, moving slowly towards Danny's own makeshift bed. "You know, Danny, Daddy and I have been here for seven years and...I don't like it. I still don't like it and I don't think I ever will." She sighed, holding him close. "I guess we're stuck here until I can get that damn Rider finished..."

Even breathing answered her. When she looked down, she noticed the toddler was asleep. Peeling back the covers with one hand, she laid him down gently, tucking his teddy under one arm. He curled up as if he was back in the womb, his little eyelids fluttering.

His mother kissed him once and tucked him in.

"He asleep?" a whispered voice behind her wanted to know.

Keira turned to see Jak. "Yeah. He is." _He's keeping himself close,_ she noted, _as if he's nervous_.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Uh, sure," she said before she could stop herself. Tentatively, so not to wake the toddler, he came in and sat on the floor. Letting out a slight sigh, she sat in front of him, legs crossed, arms loose just as he was. Jak longed to grab her hand, lace his fingers with hers as they used to, but he instinctively knew that wasn't the right time.

Several awkward moments passed between them before one of them spoke.

"So...you're back," she said, a little breathlessly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She saw that his hair had grown long in the last two years and she longed to run her fingers through it. She too instinctively knew that it wasn't the right time.

"Yup," he replied shortly.

"Where did you go?" she suddenly demanded, almost bitterly, tears beginning to flood her face. "You left me, Jak. Just when I needed you the most and you left..."

"Keir, I'm sorry. I really am," Jak said. "I wouldn't have left you. Not intentionally. But...things happened. Like you said...things...things changed."

"What?" she demanded again, folding her arms. "What happened?"

A long silence passed between them. The blonde raised his eyebrows, locking eyes with Keira.

"You sure you wanna know?"

Keira swallowed before nodding firmly.

"Okay." Jak let out a cleansing sigh. "You may want to get comfortable. It's a long story..."

_Cos__ì__ corro e nascondo, e mi strappo su  
Inizio ancora con un nuovo nome..._


	8. Anniversary

**A/N: Hello everybody! So, the great "how did Jak get there?" thing begins...well...in this AU anyway. Or does it...? The chapter steams up. I warn you now. Read, review or no Chapter Nine. ~ Mika**

_**Two years (and a few months) previously**_

For the first time that day, Keira looked out of the small window in the garage that faced out towards the large Stadium gardens. She was pleasantly surprised and slightly concerned to find that it was dark; she then looked at her clock. 11:30p.m. No other conviction needed that it was, indeed, night-time.

_I'd better stop for the night and clean up_, she thought to herself, putting her tools down. As much as she didn't want to, she realised she had to stop and go to bed before she exhausted herself completely. Cleaning her tools and hooking them back onto their proper latches, locking them as she went along, she suddenly found herself overwhelmed with exhaustion. Finally, as was her usual ritual, she drew the curtain along, concealing the three-seater Zoomer she'd just started constructing. A ripple of excitement held her tightly. She couldn't wait to finish it, to try and get it developed. Although families were not a large part of Haven City, she was sure there were at least a few who would be willing to buy and own a three-seater Zoomer.

Chuckling to herself, she pulled the shutters down and locked first the window and then the shutters themselves, before switching off all the lights, leaving the garage and locking the door. A breeze swirled between the open corridor between the garages and the stadium, lifting her hair gently. She chuckled again and climbed into her own Zoomer, pulling off and accelerating towards home. As she did so, her thoughts, as ever at this time of night when he wasn't here, wandered to Jak, out once again on another crazy mission from Torn. Although she knew he could take care of himself with Daxter on one shoulder and the Morph on the other, she was still breathless with fear that his lifeless body, or news of his death or disappearance, would reach her rather than his own living self.

Parking the Zoomer, she saw the lights weren't on in the house. A wave of disappointment surged through her as she unlocked the door and stepped inside, flipping the switches immediately. Light flooded the house, easing her immediately. Silence also flooded the house, though this did not unnerve her in the light. Switching the downstairs lights off but leaving the stair and upstairs lights on, she trudged upstairs, grabbing a towel as she passed and heading into the shower.

"Looks like another night alone," she said quietly to herself with disappointment in her voice, running the shower until it was hot, shedding her clothes and then stepping in.

~x~

"Hurry. Hurry. HUUURRRREEEEEE – "

"Dax, I'm almost there!"

"It's almost midnight. Ya already got into trouble three days ago for blowing up another Zoomer – "

"That was a Metal Head!"

"Don't worry, buddy...I know the truth." Daxter let slip a huge comedic wink. "Then yesterday, you left without telling her where you were goin' – "

"She's not my mother. 'Sides, she always knows I come back."

"And today – YOUR FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, MAY I REMIND YOU! – you not only missed the chance of a huge dinner, but you're almost missin' it altogether. You better have a plan!"

"Trust me Daxter, I always have a plan."

The ottsel rolled his eyes. "Sure ya do. Like when we first crash landed in this dump. You had a plan then?"

"Of course I did! I was just in shock at the sudden differences between Haven and Sandover,"

"So say we all," Daxter countered dryly, "but then you _had_ to get into a scuffle with some KG – "

"Hey, we got away, didn't we?" Jak snapped irritatingly. "Anyway, I'm back now." He braked so hard it sent the ottsel flying off his shoulder and crashing into the opposite wall. Swinging one leg off and over the Zoomer, Jak crossed over to his best friend, hands on hips.

"Y'know, you look gay when you do that," Daxter grumbled from his upside-down position against the wall.

"Do wha?" Jak protested, squatting in front of his orange best friend (taking his hands off his hips, of course).

"The whole hands-on-hips thing. It's bad enough that yer waist is rid-_ic_-ulously narrow and your hair is longer than the acceptable level, but when you do that you look even more like a girl – _OW!_ Easy on the goods!" he yelled, rubbing his head.

"At least I'm not covered in unwanted body hair," Jak sniggered, standing back up and folding his arms. "_That_ more masculine for ya, Dax?"

The ottsel narrowed his eyes, not daring to utter a response in case he got another smack round the head again.

"Now..." Jak straightened up, dusting himself off. "I got a girlfriend to deeply apologise to."

"'Deeply'?" Daxter repeated, sniggering for emphasis.

"That's what she said,"

"Yes, that _is_ what you said, big girl. ALRIGHT, I'M GOIN'!" he yelled before Jak could whack him again. "I gotta go see Tess anyway. Can't beat a day without a scratch behind the ears..." Without – strangely – another word, Daxter scrambled to his feet and took off in the night.

Jak chuckled and slammed the garage shut, locking and double-locking it. Haven was barely safe enough with the Guard's constant patrols as it was, but burglars and thieves made it worse. Sighing, he stretched and opened the door, noting with surprise that it was unlocked.

_She must be home already_, he thought, a small feeling of worry settling over him. If the door was unlocked, it meant Keira was at least in bed, if not already asleep. Checking the other doors – locked – he decided to go up and risk waking her up anyway.

Shedding himself of boots, he leapt up the stair. Hearing the sound of running water, he put two and two together and snuck into the bedroom, shedding the rest of his clothes, save his underwear.

He lay on the bed and waited for her to come in.

~x~

Keira could swear she heard footsteps above the running water. Turning the shower off, she wrapped a thick towel around her body and opened the door, stepping cautiously outside, fear pricking her nerves. Precursors, she wished she had a weapon handy. Her spare tools were in her bedroom.

_The bedroom!_

Silently, she darted towards the designated room, noting with a frown that it was ajar. Balling her fists with towel, she cautiously pushed the door open, letting the room flood with light.

"Hey, Keir,"

She almost dropped her towel in shock when she saw Jak on the bed, especially when she saw that he was almost completely naked.

"_Jak?_ How long have _you_ been back?"

"Not long," he said cockily, a half-smile on his face. "Sorry, hon. Mar-damned Metal Heads held us all up. I know, I should've called..."

"Sssh," she hushed him, treading silently towards the bed. In the moonlight, her hips swayed beneath the towel, the motion sending shivers of a particular kind through the young man on the bed. "You're here now. That's all that matters." Crawling over him, her legs either side of his own, she reached his face and pulled him into a long, deep and hungry kiss. A small moan sounded in his throat, especially when she straddled him, sitting on _that_ particular place.

He reached around and undid her towel, letting it fall.

"Happy anniversary, baby," she whispered hoarsely, leaning forward and kissing him again, fumbling with the last scrap of clothing on his body, peeling it away and down his legs. He kicked them away and rolled over, trapping her beneath him, uttering a little "ha-HA". His eyes caught the moonlight and he chuckled again.

"Happy anniversary, Keira," he whispered, sliding between her legs. And he meant it. He meant every word he said to her, save for the times when he was angry at her.

Just like he always promised he'd be back.


	9. Unity

**A/N: Hey, everybody and thanks fur reviews (JKA, your Italian was spot on :DD)! I'm kinda tired but unusually happy...this rarely happens. Enjoy it. Anyway. Chapter 9! Jumping back and forth, but that's what you get with a nonlinear structure. Read, review or no Chapter 10. :D ~ Mika**

**PS: This chapter contains yummy descriptions. Yum yum yum. No srsly, don't eat in the second half of it.**

_**Present day, 3 a.m.**_

Erol was in a bad mood once again. Today had not gone well by his standards. To be perfectly honest, he never had good days, but this one belonged to the level of excrement compared to his other days. Finally, three hours into the next day, he was allowed a reprieve.

_Being Commander is not everything it appeared_, he mused as he threw open the front door upon reaching home. _I do wonder how Torn managed...before he developed a conscience, that is._

Something clinked as he strode into the hall, interrupting his train of thought. Switching on the light, he removed his helmet and bent down to pick up the shards of glitter at his feet. Those shards amalgamated into a collection of metal objects on rings, which slipped through his fingers as he picked them up and studied them.

"Keira's keys?" he mused. "What are they doing here..." He looked up and around whilst filling his lungs with air, chest swelling. Before his face changed colour, he let that breath out in a yell of "_KEIRA!_"

No response. Not even the brat crying.

_What's going on?_

He stormed upstairs, almost punching the doors open, the emptiness of the rooms jarring his head like the butt of a gun on a human skull. Slowly, he began to piece together exactly what had happened, especially as, when he ripped open the designated drawers, every single thing of Keira's was gone. Everything. It was forensically clean of her, as if she'd never been there.

_The brat!_

He darted into Daniel's room, which, apart from the stripped furniture, was also completely and utterly empty.

"They've gone!" he growled, his whole innards twisting painfully. Not with emotion – Precursors forbid _Erol_ feel _emotion_. No, it was...more down to hunger. "The whore and her brat!"

The Baron's words reverberated in his head.

_WHY DID YOU LET THE PRISONER ESCAPE?_

"The freak?" he whispered, aghast as it clicked. "Did he have something to do with it all?" _He must have done._

Growling, he threw Keira's keys distastefully onto the floor, causing a loud, hard _clang_ as they hit the floor. Although it was almost four in the morning, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep, neither would he be able to go and look for the Hagai bitch right now. She was probably on the streets with that kid of hers or fucking some other man right now.

Both those notions made him angrier, his face turning as red as his hair.

Storming back outside, he took the Zoomer and sped off towards the Stadium, deciding to race a few laps around the Stadium by himself. Maybe it would work out his anger and stress as opposed to taking it out on Hagai.

He suddenly remembered the garage she had in the Stadium as he tore through Haven's streets.

And he grinned wickedly to himself.

_Dici al diavolo che ho ditto "hey" quando torni da dove vieni._

~x~

_**1:30 a.m.**_

The couple were notably silent after that particular retelling.

"You remember that?" Jak said softly. At this point, the reunited couple were lying on the hard floor, a dim light illuminating one to the other.

_Almost touching. Almost._

"Of course I do," Keira replied softly. _It led to Daniel_, she secretly and silently added.

Her right hand and Jak's left were resting loosely on the floor, their respective other arms providing some measure of comfort against the hard floor. Without warning, Jak used his middle finger to trace a line down Keira's middle finger, across the back of her hand and up her arm. Only lightly, but it triggered feelings that she hadn't had in ages.

_Did I ever fall out of love with you?_

She had tried to convince herself all this time that she had. What she'd told Erol did not and never matched her true feelings inside, even when he'd tried to beat her out of them.

His eyes snapped up, locking with hers.

_No...I never did._

"You didn't flinch," he said softly.

She could tell he was trying to control his tone. "I know you won't hurt me, Jak. Not on your life."

He seemed to retreat into himself for a minute. "Keir, this...thing inside me; the thing that...Praxis and...Erol put in me. I can't...I can't control it, as you've seen. When I'm angry, when I'm scared or threatened...it takes over. It hurts and kills everything and everyone it can. You saw what it did with Torn..." He shook his head, shaking off the shame that had descended upon him. "I can't...let anything happen to you because of me. Because of this thing!" He clenched his fists as a growl filled his throat on the last sentence.

Managing not to flinch at 'Erol', Keira put her hand over his, her long fingers like strands of pale spider webs. Eventually, Jak relaxed, knotting his fingers with hers.

"Jak..." she began, swallowing, trying to regain her composure. "No matter what happens...what changes you've gone through...I...I..." _Mar damn it, Keir, just say it_. "I love you. You should know that by now. I've always loved you. Always will do..."

"Then why did you run off with _him_, whoever _he_ is?" Jak replied sharply.

"Why did YOU run off?" Keira bit back, hurt, retracting her fingers.

"No..." Jak began, but the words failed in his throat. "Keir, I..." He shook his head – no mean feat whilst lying on his side on the floor. "Forget I said it."

She nodded, trying a different tack, attempting to placate him. "You tired?"

"No," he said stubbornly

"That's a yes then," she said lightly, eyes crinkling.

The damaged man chuckled, thumb caressing her skin. "That's one advantage to this thing. I don't tire as easily anymore,"

"Mm," she said noncommittally. "I guess that's a good thing. So...how did this...thing come to be inside you?"

Jak rolled onto his back and stared at the black ceiling, unwelcome memories of prison flooding back into his head. He heard the buzz of the machine as it injected Dark Eco into himself and other prisoners, smelled the putrid odour of rotting bodies from where Guards failed to clean the cells; felt the icy burn of the Dark Eco as it flooded his body; heard the screams, first and last, of the other prisoners. None of them survived. None of them lasted as long as he did.

"Why" was his only question.

"Jak?"

He snapped out of it and turned his attention back to Keira, who looked concerned.

"You okay there?"

"Yeah," he said automatically, swallowing. "I'm fine." He looked at her. "You sure you want to know where this thing came from?"

Keira nodded. "If it helps me understand, then yes."

_It won't._ He took a deep breath. "Okay then...Here we go."


	10. Single Clarity

**A/N: Helloooo everybody and thanks fur reviews and suchlike! Chapter Ten. Another backflash. Read, review, enjoy, dance. :D ~ Mika**

_**Two years previously**_

He knew that thanks to the activities of the Underground, the Guard patrols were more frequent and larger than ever. He also knew that they were watching more closely than ever, getting more paranoid about when the infrequent but sudden attacks from the Underground would happen, and how strong they were going to be.

This supposedly meant that he was supposed to keep his head down and not attract attention to himself. However, Jak being Jak and also the best friend of someone whom the phrase "not attract attention to himself" were as alien to him as a series of Metal Head grunts, he ignored the warnings completely.

"...so, what I'm sayin' is, maybe you should just..._what's_ the word...LISTEN to her more!"

"Since when have _you_ become the expert on love? He who can't hold a relationship for more than six hours,"

"Buddy, keep talkin' with that sharp tongue and you'll cut yourself."

"That a threat?"

"Ya want it to be?"

Jak shook his head. "Not particularly. Keira's the only one who I'd let kill me. She finds out, she'll kill you too,"

"Whatta way to go..." Daxter said, eyes half-closed. "Mmmm yeah. Crushed to death with _her_, er, tools,"

"Ya mind?" Jak glared at the ottsel.

"Yes, I _do_ mind, _especially_ being looked at like that!" Daxter said defiantly. "Anyway, what's the Tattooed Wonder want with us now?"

"You're really fixed on that nickname, aren't you?" Jak shook his head again. "He just wants us to deliver a few parcels off to Krew,"

"_That_ tub o' lard?" Daxter shrieked, wrinkling up his nose.

"Now who's behaving like a girl?" Jak raised his eyebrows to prove his point.

"Oy," Daxter said shortly. "At least I don't have a ridiculously narrow waist. I could probably put my arms around it and I'd still have some space for a leg or two in the gap,"

Jak growled, narrowing his eyes.

Daxter simply looked smug.

"You think Torn's quit the Guard yet?" the human wondered, hauling the subject away from him.

"Do I?" the ottsel snorted. "I think he can't make up his mind 'bout which side he wants to be on, that's what I think!"

Jak said nothing, continuing the walk towards the Underground Hideout. After crossing an uneven square and rounding a corner, it was waiting for them, shiny and new, with stacks of dark parcels tied to the back of it.

The best friends looked at each other.

"That is suh-_weet!_" Daxter exclaimed, whistling. "Ol' Tub o' Lard sure knows his vehicles..."

"He should do, Dax, he's a crime lord who frequently bets on the races that take place there." Jak swung a leg over the seat and turned the key, causing the engine to purr. Pushing his foot down, it took off quicker than expected and he had to yank the handlebars to stop it crashing into the nearby wall.

"It sure don't ride how it looks," Daxter commented dubiously.

"It's a Zoomer, what do you expect?" Jak snorted, squaring his shoulders and increasing the acceleration.

~x~

_Today will be the day,_ a young Captain thought as he led his patrol through the streets of Haven. _Today will be the day that I capture this boy and I will _not _stop until he's out cold and in my hands._

He sighed, shaking his head. He was the fifth Captain to be assigned to this task in the five years since the boy and his gang had literally crash-landed in Haven before disappearing, assumed to be working with the Underground. Word had soon quickly spread of the hot-headed blonde man and his bright orange rat assisting the Underground in more ways than anyone could have guessed, albeit in small ways.

The young man had logically (and wrongly, though he didn't know that) assumed that if this blonde man was caught, then he would lead him to the rest of the Underground. The result being no more resistance against the Baron, the "disappearance" of his double-agent right-hand man Torn and, possibly, a promotion for _him._

He grinned to himself at that thought process, continuing his patrol.

Suddenly – irritatingly – a vehicle zoomed by over his head before rounding a corner. The KG Captain caught sight of a flash of orange and a streak of bright blonde.

_Got you, Jak._

"Follow that Zoomer!" he yelled, pressing a concealed button calling every Guard to the square.

~x~

They hadn't been travelling for very long when suddenly, an alarm sounded.

"Whassat?" Daxter yelped.

Glancing quickly behind him, Jak saw swarms of Krimzon Guard gathering and amalgamating into one red and black mass, like a swarm of vicious bees.

"They're onto us!" he yelled, increasing the acceleration. He knew they were near Krew's, but he had to shake them off.

The swarm got larger.

_Shit. Shit, there's loads of them!_

A burning shot narrowly missed Jak's arm, singing the material.

"Faster, Jak!" Daxter yelped again. "They're behind us on those Zoomer-cycle things!"

_Shit_, Jak mentally cursed again, taking a sharp turn. He was disappointed to hear a lack of explosions as a KG or twenty had a meeting with stone walls. Dropping lower, narrowly avoiding a deadly shot, he doubled back, squeezing the handles so hard he thought his fingers were going to break. _Gotta get this stuff to Krew, whatever it is._

"Suspect in Sector Five," he heard behind him.

"WATCH OUT FOR THE TOWERS!" Daxter screamed.

"Fffuuu – " Jak pulled the Zoomer up against yet another tight curve, narrowly avoiding the large concrete towers in the middle of the port. _If I can just –_

That was when a Guard pulled up in his path.

_Oh, for the love of Mar!_ The blonde man thought, racing up in the air again. He was almost at Krew's with the packages – if he could just –

And that was when he saw the typical beam of yellow light that marked where he should park.

"Almost there!" Daxter yelled, as if to vocally confirm this.

"I KNOW!" Jak yelled back, dropping height again and braking hard. The vehicle squealed, but was parked directly in the centre of the yellow beam, where it disappeared instantly.

The Krimzon Guard, however, were not.

"RUN!" Daxter yelled, and Jak did. He took off quicker than anyone could draw breath, spotting a Zoomer directly above him. Knocking the poor owner off, he flexed his fingers and hammered on the accelerator pedal to oblivion just as the swarm of Guards closed in on him. This Zoomer, however, had seen much better days, and whilst in the Guard section of the city, one well-aimed shot blew the Zoomer up and sent the duo sailing to the ground.

They barely had time to shake off the dust before a patrol marched up to them, led by one unmasked redheaded man.

"Ah, _Jak_," he said, spitting the name with obvious relish. "We've found you at last,"

"Took you long enough, Erol," the blonde hissed. "You guys too busy worrying about your wasitlines to catch me sooner, huh?"

This snarky comment earned him a wallop in the face from a Guard.

"Don't, we need him in one piece!" Erol hissed to the offending Guard. "Well, I will give you _some_ measure of credit. You were very good at hiding...though I'm sure going Underground would do that to someone,"

_Clever fucker. _Jak instantly knew what he was getting at. Spitting out blood and a molar from the smack in the face, he laughed again. "Thankyou, _Erol_. So what's your plan, huh? Torture me for information on the whereabouts and people of the Underground?" He folded his arms. "You picked the wrong Havener to chase,"

"We'll see," Erol hissed, rattled by Jak's comments, "after a few Dark Eco treatments. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Dark Warrior Programme?"

"What, the series of experiments you run on innocent civilians because you guys are too weak to fight the Metal Heads? Oh yeah sure, I've heard of it,"

This earned another whack from another Guard. The rest looked at Erol as if for permission.

"Get him," was all he said, and additionally in an icy manner.

As hard as Jak fought over the next minutes, he was severely outnumbered. He liked to think he was a good fighter, but even he knew this was one he couldn't win.

A crack around the head from a Guard's gun butt finally sent him spiralling into darkness, his last thought the last grip on reality.

_Keira..._


	11. Morning Awkwardity

**A/N: HELLO everybody and thanks for reviews (speaking of which, Fire-Eco-Sage, dove stai? Torni!) Another one hot off the press...but edited this time. I promise. Read, review, give FES a kick up the butt for me, Chapter 12 tomorrow. Thanks. :D ~ Mika**

The sunlight was the first thing to wake Keira, attacking her eyelids and forcing her to wake up fully. The weight around her waist sent a shot of adrenaline through her and she shot up like a startled crocadog before realising that the arm belonged to Jak.

_Huh? Jak? Am I dreaming?_

Suddenly, the day before flooded into her brain.

_Leaving Erol. The garage. Seeing Jak. The fight between him and Torn. The Underground. Being reunited with her father for the first time in two years. Jak's story..._

She blinked a few times as everything fell into place, her mind clouding over as she realised how connected Erol and Jak were, aside from through her. Turning herself over onto her other side, she saw a peacefully sleeping Jak, face flickering as he saw things she didn't – of which, she had the feeling, she only knew the surface.

Reluctantly sliding herself from under the welcome familiarity of his arm, Keira stretched, stood up and quietly padded over to her son – or at least, the splurge of blonde cut off by the blanket. The rest of him was completely concealed by the thin, blue-grey blanket.

"Danny..." she cooed, squatting down next to him and gently peeling the aforementioned blanket back. Daniel groaned almost like his father as he stood up, blue eyes blinking sleepily. His mother suppressed a chuckle as she noticed his hair was sticking straight up.

"Morning, little one," she whispered, looking at the time. Eight in the morning – a full twelve-hour sleep, which was something he never got when they were back there with Erol. Keira shook her head, not willing to let herself be clouded over with dark thoughts; dark memories. They were free now, and that was the way they would all stay.

As she smoothed down her toddler's wild hair, she also noticed with a lift of her heart how her little family were all together for the first time – although Jak still didn't know Danny was his, despite the striking physical similarities.

_Calm it, Keira, he only met him yesterday, and even then I'm sure he didn't fully look at him._ Keira sighed quietly, meeting her son's blue eyes. _At least I can look at him free of heartache now._

Jak groaned in his sleep, rolling onto his back, his hand slapping comically onto his blue-clad chest. The mechanic allowed herself a little chuckle as she carried the toddler to the breakfast room. As they passed, Danny reached out to the caved walls, his hand running lightly along the bumpy rock.

"What's that, Danny?" his mother cooed, a little hope in her heart. He had never spoken in his life – presumably due to circumstances, presumably due to genetics – so she hoped that he would at least attempt to start speaking.

Just then, something collided with her knees, almost making her stumble over.

She looked down, a grin filling her face when she saw who it was.

"Hey, other little one," she said, noting with interest how Danny's arms stretched towards the green-haired child upon spotting him. "Have you had brekky yet?"

The child shook his head.

"Are you going to get some?"

A nod.

"Danny, do you want to go with him to get some brekky?"

A ferverent nod from the blonde in her arms. He looked at her, large blue eyes filled with worry.

"It's okay, I'll be right behind you."

A small "phew" from her son.

"Go on then," she chuckled lightly. Setting the blonde boy down, the green-haired child instantly took off, closely followed by the younger boy. A shiver of familiarity ran down Keira's spine as she watched the older boy. There was something about him that she recognised; something which she had seen before. She couldn't put her finger on it, and this perplexed her.

"Hey," came a gruff voice from behind her.

She spun around. "Hey, Jak," she said, not really knowing what to say.

The young man stretched, yawning. "Getting food?"

She nodded, vocal cords paralysed. Whether this was with fear or uncertainty as to what to say, she wasn't sure.

"Me too." He shook himself back to normal, his blue-eyed gaze resting on her, sending another shiver up her spine. There was a stilted air between them, as if what had been done or said between them last night was something to be awkward about.

"So!" she almost shouted, breaking the solidifying silence. "Let's eat." Quickly, she turned back and walked off in the direction she'd seen her son and his new best friend disappear to.

"What was _that_ about?" Jak's own best friend chimed from behind him, leaping athletically onto his shoulder.

The blonde raised his eyebrows and scratched his head, as clueless as Daxter was.

"Ah well. I'm hungry! And I wonder if Tess stayed last night..."

"You mean you two haven't done it yet?"

"And you two have for the first time in two years?"

Jak narrowed his eyes. "Not the point, buddy. Keir and I _have_ been apart for two years. We got a lot to catch up on,"

Daxter raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, you DO. Extending to bedroom stuff, if ya know what I mean, and I KNOW you do,"

The blonde rolled his eyes and continued onwards.

~x~

_**Mar Memorial Stadium, 6:00 a.m.**_

Erol had to say, smashing stuff up before doing laps around the stadium until dawn broke was the best stress-reliever he'd ever experienced. He made a note to recommend it to anyone who would actually and willingly listen to him, the number of which he could count on no fingers whatsoever.

He braked the Zoomer to a screeching halt and ventured lazily back into his ex-girlfriend's garage, surveying the destruction within with great pleasure. Tools were ripped off their hooks, desks and worktops were smashed, drawers were ripped out and empty. Most pleasingly, the curtain that separated her two-year old project and the rest of the garage was destroyed, along with the aforementioned project.

"A three-seater Zoomer," he snorted to himself disgustedly. "What kind of mad idea...?"

Silence greeted his rhetorical question and he shook his head, leaving the garage with as much disgust in his actions as in his tone of voice.

_Keep talking to yourself, Erol, and you'll end up in an asylum._

He snorted again disdainfully, swinging a leg over a waiting Zoomer and headed towards the Palace without another glance back.

~x~

_**Much later**_

"So, how did you end up with your new man?" the fighter said, a touch of venom in his voice. Actually, the venom extended to his body language too.

"Jak, you've just gotten back from yet another dangerous mission, are you sure you want to _know_ who and what – "

"Hey." The blonde paced around the cave-room, arms folded. "I told you how I ended up where I was. You owe me some repayment,"

Keira bit back the words she really wanted to say and sighed, processing Jak's. "Oh, alright."

Jak looked at her expectantly.

She took a deep breath and began.


	12. L Inizio

**A/N: Hello! Sorry about lack of updates, I've been either too tired or out drinking to write a chapter. HERE IS CHAPTER TWELVE, complete with cheese. And sheep (hey, I AM Welsh). And lies. Sorta. Read, review, no Capitolo 13. ~ Mika**

The day faded to night, and he still wasn't back by that time.

Keira's stomach once again threw up its contents and she had to rush to the toilet before it all came pouring out of her mouth. She knew she shouldn't have had that pie at lunch, despite it being one of her favourite foods. Gasping as she straightened up, she wiped her mouth, tears of shame pouring from her eyes. She knew there was nothing to be ashamed about, but hormones and being worried for her missing boyfriend got the better of her.

She then decided, for the first time in five years, to take the active route. Darting out the toilet, she grabbed her keys and her coat. Heart pounding, she pulled her coat on roughly, zipping it up and instinctively throwing her hood over her head. Locking the doors and windows, she ran outside, feeling the sudden downpour of rain assault her thin, waterproof hood like a Metal Head onslaught.

She swung her head left and right, not knowing where to start.

_Perhaps with a Zoomer would be the best place to start, Keir?_

"Course..." she muttered to herself, throwing up the metal door of her's and Jak's garage (also known between the couple as Zoomer Storage Space), looking around. Spotting the Zoomer that looked like it worked the best, she ran over, leaping on it and starting it up. Holding on tightly, she flew out the garage – slamming the door shut behind her as she went, clearly, her worry for Jak did not make her careless – and headed towards the first place she knew he'd go, apart from the Bunker.

_Mar Memorial Stadium._

Racing against the rain, she managed to avoid Krimzon Guards and buildings as she drew closer and closer to the Stadium. Her heart was beating so fast she couldn't feel it, and she almost crashed into the Stadium walls, her brain was pulsing his name so many times. Braking, she leapt off the Zoomer and landed on the floor. Her ears pricked up and she listened for sounds beyond that of the driving rain and ominous rumbles of thunder.

She listened for the sound of an engine, the turn of a screw, the screech of metal. Anything that sounded like the other language Keira spoke; the language of cars and their sounds.

Nothing.

She fled into the corridor between the garages and the Stadium itself, peering in every garage space through the small windows on the doors. Her heart sank the further along she got without finding a blonde head or a furry, orange body in any garage.

"Jak?" she yelled, turning her attention to the stadium itself. Finding the large space in the wall that constituted as "the entrance", she walked through it, half-expecting to see him...well, doing something there.

Nothing again.

The Stadium was completely empty, save for the ring of silence that fell on her ears.

Pulling her sodden coat back over her shoulders, she trudged back to the Zoomer with a heavy heart – and a wet bottom when she sat on it, owing to leaving it out in the pouring rain, but she was too worried about trying to find Jak to care about her soaking back end – and tried to think where he'd be next.

The answer came to her quicker than an idea for a new invention.

_The Underground!_

~x~

Torn was, as ever, one of the few left in the Underground at this time of night as everybody else was slowly slipping off to...well, wherever they actually slipped off too at this time. He heard the rain hammering down on the front entrance as he pored over the map, eyebrows knitted in a perennial frown.

He was so focused on it, then, that he was startled when the door a few metres in front of him slid open, making the rain louder.

"Torn?" the reason for the opening door said, stepping in and allowing the door to shut.

He looked up. "Keira! You alright?"

"Not really." The mechanic dramatically threw her hood back. "Have you seen Jak in the last twelve hours at all?"

"Jak?" The thin man frowned. "I sent him on a mission to deliver some packages to Krew this morn –" He stopped dead as he realised what he was saying. "And he hasn't returned?"

The mechanic shook her head, drips flying everywhere. "I was wondering if he'd be here with you!"

"If anything I thought he'd be at home." Torn frowned even more than he was previously, making him look like he had a single eyebrow. "Huh. This is weird..."

"No Daxter?"

"What, the orange rat? No, nobody's seen him either. He's probably with Jak, wherever _he _is."

Keira felt her temper rise, but she managed to control her tone through gritted teeth. "So you're not even _worried_ about him?"

"Keira, you know Jak as well as I do." The former Commander set his pen down, folded his arms and looked at the young woman. "He'll turn up, I'm sure. He always does in the end. Give it til mornin' and..."

"And?" Keira said pointedly, after a long silence.

He sighed. "I don't know. Just keep an eye out for him. Let me know when he turns up,"

"Yes _sir_," Keira replied sarcastically, turning on her heel and storming out the headquarters, which was colloquially known as the Bunker. The door slid quietly shut behind her.

_Women_, Torn thought, scratching his head in confusion.

~x~

_**1:30 a.m.**_

Keira slowed her vehicle down under an overhang, folding her arms on the handlebars and letting her head flop into them. Three and a half hours of searching and asking questions had left her body exhausted, especially her voice, which was now reduced to a whisper.

_Come on, Keir. He could be home already._

"Excuse me, this is a no-rest zone!" a young, male voice snapped irritably.

She lifted her head and looked sleepily at the man who had spoken to her. "Sorry, sir," she mumbled. "I was..." _Looking for someone_ "...just on my way home."

The Guard in front of her – unmasked, although Keira didn't take the time to notice this – nodded once, stiffly. "Right. Move along!"

Just then, with almost coincidental timing, the Zoomer decided to break completely.

"Ah, shit," she groaned, tears springing to her eyes. _This is all I need._ The map on her Zoomer told her she was half an hour drive from home, which meant it would take an hour to walk.

_Pregnant, sodden, tired, hungry, caught in a storm, an hour from home, interrogated by a Krimzon Guard. Just my luck._

The Guard, inexplicably, decided to take pity on her. "Uhm...Look." He cleared his throat. "I'm almost off duty and I don't live far from here. Do you..." He swallowed. "Do you...want to come back...to mine?"

The mechanic stared at him for a minute before realising he was serious. "Uh...yeah, s-sure. Should I wait...?"

He laughed, attempting genuine warmth. It made Keira uncomfortable. "No. Come with me. Bring the Zoomer too, I'm sure I can get it fixed – "

"I'm a mechanic," she blurted, not knowing or caring what she was saying anyway. "If...you have the right tools, I can get...this fixed quickly."

He nodded, eyes lighting with interest. "You're a mechanic? I've got tools back at my place." He beckoned. "Come on. You look as exhausted as that Zoomer in your hands."

Being too tired to care, Keira followed him, a question on her lips.

"What's your name?"

"Erol," the man in front of her said. "Yours?"

"Keira," she gasped. Her instinct warned her not to lie.

Over the coming two years, her instinct would save her many times.


	13. Complacency

**A/N: AND I'M BACK! Sorry, I did mean to write this earlier but tiredness and going out (a LOT prevailed). Also thanks to JKA for **_**finally**_** reviewing and thus unleashing this chapter ;P kidding, hun, I know you've been ill :) anyway! Read, review or no Chapter 14. And trust me, you WILL want Chapter 14...well, if you're into that kind of stuff. ;) ~ Mika**

Jak sat back and narrowed his eyes whilst what Keira had just told him fed into his brain, which in turn tried to process it.

"Things...escalated from there," Keira tried to explain, her voice weak, her shoulders dropping. Long moments stretched and took off between them; that is, moments of very awkward silence, suddenly broken by one of the two small mute toddlers that lived in the Underground speeding in and colliding with Keira's knees.

She looked down to see an explosion of blonde hair.

"Hello Danny! Meet Mummy's knees. Mummy's knees, say hello to Danny – Oh, you did. Oh, baby, come here..." Picking her silently crying son up in her arms, her gaze fell on a steadily growing bruise on her son's slightly tanned forehead. "Oh, Danny. Let's rub it better!" She kissed his bruise gently before taking his little hand and making it rub the bruise. "There we are. All better?"

Her mute son nodded, thumb in his mouth uncertainly.

"Good boy." She kissed him on the cheek. "Where's your new friend?"

"He's here," the boy's still-unknowing father replied, stepping aside to let a small, green-haired child pass.

"Do you want to go and play whilst Da – Jak and I talk?" Keira bit the inside of her cheek, hoping that Jak didn't notice that slip-up. Glancing at him, she saw straightaway that he didn't, given the way he was staring at the two boys.

Her son nodded and once again, she put him down and he took off with his green-haired best friend.

"Get on like a house on fire, don't they?" Jak remarked as he observed the two children take off. "It's funny. They're both mute, both have green in their hair and blue eyes..." He shook his head. _No. It couldn't be. The Kid don't have any family._ "Anyway. So...that's how you ended up with Erol, huh. Don't blame ya, I suppose."

Keira stumbled back in shock. "You're not angry?"

"Why should I be?" The damaged man shrugged. "You're not my property...and...besides, it was late, you were tired, it was raining and you were...you were far from home. An hour..." He took a deep breath. "You say things escalated from there?" He suddenly grew angry, clenching his fists, making Keira instinctively recoil with fear. "Why the fuck am I not surprised? That bastard escalates _everything_ he's involved in..."

"Including your t-temper," Keira stuttered, breathless. "Wait. How do you know him?"

"How do I know him?" Jak retorted bitterly. "Believe me, Keir, I know him and his cruelty almost as intimately as you,"

"Love to keep you lovebirds chattin' but Jak, Tattooed Wonder wants us," another voice suddenly butted in.

"Daxter?" Jak sounded very disappointed as he turned his attention onto his best friend. "Can it not wait?"

"Not when you got an Eco vehicle to reach," Daxter said dryly, raising an eyebrow. "Al _thouggghh..._waitwaitwait, lemme guess which point you're at right now. Is it the point where you wake – "

"YES DAXTER, IT IS, SO LET ME TELL HER!" Jak said very, very loudly and pointedly. "I'll be along in a sec, kay?"

"Whatever you say, buddy. _Whateeeever...you...say_."

"DAXTER!" Keira yelled, showing her characteristic assertiveness for the first time in two years. That display, Jak wasn't ashamed to admit, sent a chill of the good type up his spine. The ottsel quickly scurried off before he found out she had her tool belt on her and used an item from it on him.

"Anyway..." she chuckled, pushing her blue hair off her face, "what were you about to say before Daxter so _rudely_ interrupted you?"

Jak allowed himself a little chuckle before continuing.

~x~

_**Two years earlier**_

The first sense that activated in Jak's head was triggered by pain radiating from his head as the bruise from a Guard's gun-butt made its presence known. The next was triggered by a still, cold atmosphere in...wherever he was. He didn't know. He also felt the cold, hard floor beneath him as he sat up, steadying himself.

The next sense awakened was sight, aided by pitch-blackness – or at least, it was until a hard, dull _boom_ sent light flooding into his sensitive eyes. Throwing an arm across his eyes, his ears detected footsteps getting closer and closer to him as one – no, two – people approached.

_People. Huh. Krimzon Guards are anything _but.

"So, you're awake," came the oily, accented voice Jak, along with many other Haveners, knew so well. "Thought you would be. It took a lot to subdue you like that. You put up a fight – the first one to do so. Congratulations."

Anger controlling him, Jak threw himself at the bars, only for the accompanying Guard to use his expanded and extended Taser to throw him right at the back of the cell again. He grunted in pain, body convulsing as bolts of electricity shot through it.

The young man on the other side of the bars laughed. "If you think _that_ was painful, just wait and see what we have in store for _you_. The Baron has long awaited the day where you would be under _his_ control. You have been long hunted and now, now we have you!"

"Tell me somethin' I _don't_ know," Jak replied, snorting. "And who says I'm under _anyone's_ control?"

"Look at yourself, _Jak_," the Captain retorted, sneering the other man's name. "You're in a prison cell, defenceless and anonymous like any other prisoner. Only you're not _just_ any other prisoner, are you?"

"What do you mean?" the young man replied, hackles truly raised in an animalistic fashion.

"You mean you don't know?" The other man's hard eyes gazed at him. "You haven't even guessed?" He sighed. "I suppose I'll have to tell you. Those Eco channelling abilities of yours? The first Havener in one hundred and fifty years to have them? Of course you're not _just_ any other prisoner..."

Jak's blood ran cold as he made the connection. _My powers. The Dark Warrior Programme._

Erol uttered a laugh, which was clearly in response to the look on Jak's face. "Well done. You're not as unintelligent as you look..."

The young man tried to contain the combination of his fear and his desire to grab Erol's face and rip it off his skull inside him, barely letting his body language convey what he really felt.

"Anyway, enough of this frivolity. The Baron will be here any second and I must get you prepared for the first treatment," the Captain said coldly before turning his attention to the other Guard. "Get him on that table."

The Guard nodded and unlocked the cell door, marching in and standing in front of the very pissed off young man. Jak leapt up in an attempt to attack the Guard, who simply clubbed him in the stomach with one of his many weapons, causing him to fall back, doubling over in pain. This momentary lowering of guard gave the red-clad being a chance to haul him up, gripping him tightly by the arm and half-dragging him over to the table. Still winded from the previous attack, Jak tried to fight back, but his efforts were weak, in vain, and he half-allowed himself to be strapped to the table, cursing himself as he did so.

He would do so forever.

Erol stood over him, an unwelcome smirk on his face.

"The balance of power has changed, Jak..."

"Erol!" a rough, more authoritative voice ordered. Jak watched with pleasure as the Captain straightened almost in terror to the new voice. "That's enough bantering with the prisoner. You, go." There were footsteps as the additional Guard left the torture chamber. Erol disappeared from sight, moving to some sort of panel.

"You...Boy..." The Baron appeared into view. The sight of him caused Jak to snarl, fighting his restraints. "You're finally in my hands." He looked at the Captain behind the control panel. "Erol. Now."

The nastily-sharp-looking points above Jak's chest descended and plunged into him as far as they would go. Suddenly, this pain was followed by a new sensation as Dark Eco poured down the needles, entering his body, flooding his veins with their burning cold, the viscous liquid winding its way through his system.

It was then Jak allowed himself to utter a scream that would not only make his throat raw, but reverberate around the walls of the chamber with alarming frequency over the coming years.


	14. Sexuality

**A/N: Hellooo, thanks fur reviews! Just to warn you: the last half of the chapter is very, very, very steamy and after uploading this I'm gonna push the rating up to M. So this story is officially not for under-16s. JKA and FES, this means you – no, I joke, you guys are good. I think you'll enjoy it anyway ;) Anyway, read, review or no chapter 15. Also, did the last half of the chapter work in terms of...well... ;)? LET ME KNOW. ~ Mika**

Hours after Jak and Daxter headed off to do whatever they had to do with the Eco vehicle, Keira mulled over his story, shock still pulsing through her as it did after he'd finished. He'd looked exhausted when he was done, evidently physically and emotionally reliving that day. With his ever-wonderful timing, Daxter had reappeared and said something about needing to get to the Eco vehicle _now_ or Torn would use his fur as a welcome mat for the Underground entrance...or words to that effect anyway.

The mechanic was still stunned that the same man who had held her prisoner for two years also tortured him for the same amount of time.

_We were both his prisoners._

A noise broke her out of her reverie and she whipped her head around to see Torn at the entrance of the room.

"Torn?"

Instantly, she got up, almost in defence.

The man in front put his hands up. "Keir...I'm not gonna hurt you, or make you do anything you don't want to do. I promise. I'm not Erol, you know that."

She relaxed. "I know. I just wanted to know..."

"What I wanted?" The Underground's second-in-command gave an awkward shrug. "Just to check...you're okay. That...you haven't been hurt or anything."

"By Jak?" Keira clarified. "No...although...I'm scared he will. I know he's not Erol, but...there's something else inside of him that...he can't control. His D-Dark side. You've seen it..."

"No kidding," Torn chuckled dryly, scratching the back of his neck. "It did almost kill me yesterday, remember?"

She chuckled. "How could I forget?" Quickly, she glanced at her son, who was still soundly asleep. "Look, Torn...Jak's gonna be back soon...and...you remember how mad he got when he thought you were actually...you know...me."

Torn nodded, biting the insides of his cheeks. "I get it. Yeah," he said shortly, voice becoming rough again. His body language wore disappointment, and Keira felt it fall over her heart. She knew his feelings; or, at the very least, had guessed them. Torn was never the open type with emotion, she knew that all too well. He looked as if he was about to go when he suddenly turned back.

"Look, Keir...no matter what happens...if you and Jak get back together or it doesn't work out for you guys..." He cleared his throat, face turning as red as his hair. "Y'know where I am, 'kay?"

Keira nodded, her throat dry. "Y-yeah, I know. I know..." Her voice faltered and she turned back to her son before Torn could see that her own face had reddened.

He let his blue eyes take her in, once again repeating the question that had been circulating in his mind for the last two years.

_Why didn't _I _find you first?_

~x~

"Holy _shit_, that was close!"

"No kidding, buddy! I almost lost my fur in that last one...What _are_ we doin' working for that slimeball anyway?"

Jak shrugged. "Honestly Dax, I can't say. I guess he's doing something for the Underground at least,"

"Like that hot chick who's workin' for him."

The human looked at him oddly. "Tess? Really? You...would?"

"Ah, Jak...You just don't appreciate the finer, er, assets of the woman..."

"No, 'cause I've got Keira,"

Now it was Daxter's turn to give Jak an odd look. "You sure about that, bud? She didn't seem too happy with ya when you explained about the whole capture-and-torture thing..."

"Who would?" Jak's body gave a small shudder at the memory. "Really?"

"Erol?"

The damaged man uttered a low growl.

"It don't matter," Daxter continued regardless. "I reckon that guy has the hots for ya anyway,"

Jak swerved to narrowly avoid a wall. "Are you _kidding_ me?"

Daxter suppressed the chuckle that was building in his stomach as he kept his face deadly serious. "Oh yeah. Why didja think he spent so long pursuing you? What was it...seven years? You see his face when he caught ya? Like a child at Christmas,"

Jak twisted his face in clear displeasure.

The ottsel chuckled. "Whassup, Jak? Not liking male attention? I reckon it's that ridiculously narrow waist of yours that's making ya get it..."

"If I had a hand free, Dax, you wouldn't be on my shoulder right now," the man growled as he deliberately accelerated around a tight corner, causing a most feminine scream from Daxter. "With that scream, buddy, I'm surprised _you_ ain't got any male attention on you – OW, HEY, THAT'S _MY_ ACTION!"

"As you pointed out yourself, boyo, you haven't got any hands free," Daxter sniggered. "Therefore, I get the moves while you're immobile."

Jak raised his eyebrows and stamped his feet on the pedals, causing Daxter to be hurled off his shoulder and land on the floor in a cloud of dust. Once he got back on his feet, he hurled Jak a very dirty look before leaping back onto his shoulder.

"I'm gonna hit the sack...I'm done for the day," the human replied, glancing off the dirty look thrown at him.

"Hit the sack...or tap Keira's ass? OWH!"

"Revenge," Jak said smoothly before walking into the Underground.

~x~

Keira was already asleep when he slid into bed next to her. Or so he thought, because as soon as she heard him climb into bed, she turned to face him, eyes well and truly open.

"I thought you were asleep,"

"I thought you'd be back sooner," Keira replied, a touch of frost in her tone. "I was scared to go to sleep in case...in case all this was a dream and I'd wake up and be back with Erol..." Her voice wobbled, her prepared anger fading.

"Sshh," Jak soothed, stroking her face. "I'm back now. You've got me for a few hours at least,"

"Good." The mechanic put her arms around him. Without warning, her lips collided with his, and their worlds exploded.

As the kiss deepened, Keira's hands wandered elsewhere, moving down his back to his hips and the edge of his shirt. Knowing where this was going, Jak didn't stop to ask if she was sure. Her body was pressed tightly against his, the kiss rough, one leg around his waist.

He knew she was sure.

Rolling over so he was on top of her, body between her legs, every nerve came alive for the first time in two years. Removing her clothing as quickly as she was removing his, he broke the kiss and let his lips and tongue roam down her chin, neck, breasts and stomach. Undoing the buttons on her trousers and pulling them down along with her pants, he locked eyes with her, asking permission.

She knotted her fingers in his long blonde hair and tugged it for an answer. A shiver running through his body, he removed her knickers, pulling them down and completely as she arched her hips, shivering and gasping beneath him.

Kneeling between her legs, he let his eyes sweep over her, taking her in completely as he set his fingers to work between her long limbs. He soon found the tiny nub of flesh concealed within the folds of her skin, loving the way she bucked, shivered and moaned as he played with it. She arched her back, fingers curving into claws, grabbing the sheets as her body was hit with wave upon wave of pleasure; so much so she thought she would explode.

He stopped, withdrawing his fingers.

_I'm sorry I left you..._

"What are you waiting for?" Keira begged, voice wracked with sobs. "Take me, Jak. Take me now!"

He chuckled. "Fast or slow?"

"Any way you want. Please Jak...please..."

_I'm sorry I ever let you go into someone else's hands..._

Running his hands up her legs, allowing every cell of both bodies to feel everything.

_Oh God, Keira. I've missed you so much._

"Tell me, Keira Hagai. You glad I'm back?"

She moaned, head back, eyes closed. "Jak, don't play with me! _Please!_"

"I want an answer from you." He made sure his tone was non-threatening. He didn't want to ruin this moment. "Are you happy I'm back?"

"Yes!" she whispered.

"I'm sorry..." He moved up steadily closer towards her. "I can't hear you,"

"_Yes_!" she whispered, a little louder this time.

A half-smile crossed the man's face. "Still can't hear you."

"Yes!" she shouted, body convulsing just as he thrust into her. "Oh God, yes!"

As he got to work on her, he let his lips venture all over the contours of her beautiful body. He kissed her, burying his face in her neck as he continued, breathing her in for the first time in years, thrusting harder as they got closer and closer to climax. Her moans built up in volume and soon became screams, turning him on more and more, pushing him closer and closer until –

"Oh, _JAK!_"

He sat up, pulling her up and locking his arms around her waist, clawing her back as he came into her multiple times. Slamming her head down, she bit his shoulder, holding onto him as her own pleasure overwhelmed her, wave upon wave until once again she couldn't take any more.

For a while afterwards, they sat in each other's arms, bodies recovering from the intense pleasure they had both just experienced. Jak chuckled as Keira's body convulsed from aftershocks, gently pulling out of her and laying her down on the bed, kissing her tenderly on the lips.

"How was that?" he asked, brushing a strand of hair off her face.

"I don't think I need to say," she chuckled, her fingers lightly resting on his cheek. "I'd forgotten how good sex could be..."

"Mm," Jak replied noncommittally, resting one hand on her waist. "So did I, truthfully."

Suddenly the young woman shot up, eyes wide. "We didn't use anything."

"Use any – Ohhh." Jak worked it out as quickly as his question left his lips. _Shit._

"It doesn't matter," she said, laying back down and pulling the sheet over herself. "I'm pretty sure I can't have kids any more anyway. What Erol did..." She shuddered.

Jak pulled her close. "It's okay, Keir. You're safe." He kissed the back of her neck. "You don't have to be scared anymore."

The young woman locked fingers with him. "I know," she replied, turning her back to him. Whilst Jak fell asleep within seconds, she lay awake for ages, the worries she'd put out of her mind in the last day rolling back over her mind like clouds over the sun.

_Erol..._


	15. Ecstasy and Agony

**A/N: Hello, everyone, thanks for reviews ad suchlike! Warning: this chapter contains rape...Hopefully it's not too explicit. I wasn't comfortable writing it, but me and taboo-breaking... You can't say I didn't warn you. It also contains heartbreak and shit. And more sex. A lot happens in this chapter, basically ^_^ read, review, or no Chapter 16. ~ Mika**

"_Tell me!"_

_She could only scream as his speed increased, tearing her apart inside._

"_Stop that screaming, whore," he hissed, clawing her flesh, causing it to bleed in trails._

"_Please, Erol...Just stop...Please stop..." she begged, feeling her body give up the fight. _No, Keira, stay awake. Stay awake..._ "I'll...I'll tell you if...you stop..."_

_A wicked grin crossed his face. "You and I both know that's not true. Now...if you're good...if you tell me...I'll slow down. I can't promise to stop...but I'll go gently. Just how you like it."_

_She gritted her teeth as wave upon wave of pain surged through her, tears springing to her eyes as she made her deadly bargain. "T-tough luck...I...I'll only tell you if you stop."_

"_How dare you," he whispered, grabbing her hips. "How dare you bargain with me! _You_, bitch, do _not _bargain with me. At all. You hear me? _At all!_"_

"_No, _please!_" she screamed as he began assaulting her again. A crack from his fist stunned her into silence and non-feeling as he continued. By the time he'd finished with her, zipping up his jeans and walking away as if nothing had happened, she was numb all over, breathing heavily as blood pooled from various points on her body._

_She looked at the time. 10:30pm. Half an hour today. Much longer than normal._

I must have been bad...I must have not done what he'd told me to do. Whatever that is.

_Breath and body shaking, she hauled herself up, doing her clothes up with shaking hands. She wasn't sure where Erol had gone, but she didn't want to take the chance of staying downstairs._

_It wasn't the first time he had raped her._

_It wouldn't be the last either._

~x~

In the present day, Keira jerked awake screaming, causing Jak to jerk awake next to her.

"Keir, you okay?" he asked.

Not replying to his question, the mechanic then realised that she was not only naked, but he was naked too.

"We're both naked," she observed.

He raised his eyebrows, suppressing a smile. "Yes, we are,"

Flashbacks from last night flooded her brain, causing her body to shudder in delight. "We had hot, loud, raunchy sex last night, didn't we?"

"Yes we did," Jak simply replied, uttering a small chuckle, tracing circles on her stomach. She flinched away from him, drawing the sheet over herself.

"Sorry," she apologised, voice faltering at his confused look. "I...didn't have...a good dream last night." She lay back down and Jak propped himself up on his forearms, gazing at her with a certain degree of intensity. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. He had guessed what she had dreamt about – or rather, remembered – given that her murmured "Please, Erol, stop..." woke him up. "Just..." He looked away and then looked back, smiling. "Morning."

She smiled, the flashback dissipating. "Morning to you too,"

"What were you planning to do today whilst I'm out...doing...whatever I've been commanded by Torn to do?"

Keira mulled it over in her mind. She had to go back to her garage at some point; she couldn't stay cooped up in the Bunker forever, scared to set foot outside the front door for fear that Erol would come and "reclaim" her, as he would put it.

"I'm..." She took a deep breath, trying to steady her voice, realising it was shaking again. "I'm going to go to m-my garage at the Stadium. If...that's okay with you?"

_Precursors, Erol_ has _got her scared_, Jak thought sadly, stroking her cheek – which had a long faint scar running across it, he noticed. "Keir, it's fine. I'm not going to control you like _he_ did. Just stay safe, okay? If _he_ turns up, give me a buzz,"

"Even if you're in the middle of a deadly important mission?" she teased, a spark of the old Keira flaring up again.

"Especially if I'm in the middle of a deadly important mission," he replied, a wry smile crossing his face.

"Hey," she said. "You don't sound angry today,"

"I don't?" _Awesome._ "It could be 'cause I got laid for the first time in two years last night,"

"You cheeky man!" Keira laughed, the sound travelling down Jak's ears and towards his heart. "How much time do you have now?"

A twinkle sparked in Jak's eyes as he shifted himself over her again. "Enough..." he purred, kissing her again. "Why? What were you thinking?"

"I'm sure you can guess." Her green eyes twinkled, inviting him to bathe in them. "Only this time? _I _wanna be on top."

"Yes, ma'am," he purred, rolling over onto his back and smiling as she straddled him again.

"Oh. Where's Daniel?"

"With the Kid again. Those two are inseparable, I swear..."

"Hmm. Good."

He looked at her.

She looked at him.

~x~

Riding the Zoomer towards her garage later, Keira was in an irritatingly good mood. She knew it was irritating because even Daxter, the Underground's resident King of Irritation, had commented on the way she and Jak had been at breakfast, bringing to light what everyone was thinking as usual. She was even humming a little song to herself, and for once, the perennial smog over Haven had cleared, allowing some measure of pale sunlight to penetrate it.

There was no weight on her shoulders, no expectations, no dread. She had promised her son and her boyfriend that she'd be back by nightfall, and given that it was now ten o'clock, she had eight wonderful hours of building ahead of her.

That prospect felt liberating.

She parked her Zoomer outside her familiar place outside the Stadium, a shiver of familiarity running down her spine. Last time she was here, as she recalled as she strolled down the corridor to her garage, she was pregnant with Danny and looking for his father in the pouring rain.

_Speaking of which, Keir, you _have _to tell him that Danny's his._

"I know..." she said aloud, going to unlock her garage before noticing it was already unlocked. Alarm bells ringing, she threw open the door and dived in, slamming it shut behind her and flipping the lights on.

She was not prepared for what she saw.

It was pure carnage in the garage space she used to call her second home. Her working tables were totally destroyed, shards and splinters scattered everywhere. Her tools, the ones she hadn't snatched up when she frantically left it just two days ago, were also scattered all over the floor, scratched and dusty. Heart pounding at hummingbird rate, she ran to the curtain, yanking it back, hoping against hope that her unfinished three-seat Zoomer hadn't been touched.

Her hope fell to pieces the second she yanked the curtain back.

"Oh no!" she sobbed, running towards it, hands outstretched, tears pouring down her face. Nuts, bolts and bits of metal from the machine lay scattered everywhere, the machines and every little part of it dented, twisted, broken or utterly destroyed.

Whoever had done this had been very meticulous.

Whoever had done this held a vengeance against her.

"No...please...please..." she sobbed as she gave it a thorough searching, seeing if there was anything that can be salvaged. Aside from a few pieces of metal that were unscathed, the rest was completely destroyed. She would have to start from scratch, should she have the desire to even begin rebuilding.

The worst part was that she knew exactly who did this, and she named him in a frustrated outpouring of emotion.

"Erol!" she yelled in frustration and anger, her heart breaking. Her main project, her pride and joy, her work for three years...Gone in one angry rage. "Erol, you bastard! You prick!"

"You called?" another voice responded.

She straightened up slowly, eyes wide, trembling all over.

"How did you get in?" she wanted to know quietly, not moving a millimetre.

"You tell me. _You_ left the door open," his cold voice replied, chilling her to the bone. "Although, I must admit, I broke in the first time..."

"_Why?_" she wanted to know, tears running down her face. "Why did you do this?"

"Why did you leave me!" he roared, grabbing a handful of hair and twisting it, forcing her to turn around and look into his dull eyes, which were blazing with anger. "You and that brat of yours. You slinked off like a thief two days ago! Well, bitch, you're coming back with me, brat or no brat."

"No, Erol, _please!_" she yelled, kicking at him. Releasing her hair, he sent one heavy, steel-infused boot into her stomach, sending her crashing into her ruined machine and causing some ribs to crack.

"Hey! _YOU!_ Yes, you with the red hair!" an angrier voice joined the party.

Erol whirled around, eyes widening in shock when he saw who it was, and what he was carrying in his hands.

"Get your fucking hands off my girlfriend!" Jak roared, charging up the Peacemaker.


	16. Revelatory

**A/N: Hello, everybody! Thanks for reviews and suchlike. Also, JKA, Marn & I have both subscribed to you on YouTube...and commented on your profile. Thing. Just letting you know ^_^ Anyway, read, review or no Chapter 17. :D ~ Mika**

"_You!_" Erol hissed, drawing out his own standard service weapon, although both gun-wielding men knew which was the more powerful. "So you _were_ involved with taking _my_ girlfriend after all!"

"Not at first, but it was a pretty nice bonus," the blonde hissed. "Besides, I believe _you _stole her from me. She was _my_ girlfriend way before she was yours." He lowered the 'Maker, holding the Commander's gaze with a degree of intensity reserved especially for those he held in the lowest regard. "Seven years, she was my girlfriend. All without taking a hand to her in anger as I've heard _you've_ done..."

Erol's eyes narrowed. "She was a whore!"

"Bullshit!" Jak bit back, feeling the Eco in his veins rise. "She is _not_ that kind of woman! You are just a twisted son of a bitch who gets hard over other people's suffering, especially by your hands." He sent a reassuring gaze over to Keira as she looked at him, worried. _It's okay...I can handle this_. He turned his attention back to the Commander, eyes narrowing. "More than that, Erol...you're a _coward_. You're nothing but a spineless coward,"

"How _dare_ you!"

Jak chuckled. "You ain't got a good comeback because deep down, Erol, you know it's true. How else would you explain taking your shit out on a woman?" He switched to the Vulcan Fury, Eco pushing at his skin. "You _are _a coward, Erol, born and bred spineless..."

"Jak, _stop!_" a female voice exclaimed, weakened with tears.

Both men turned and looked at Keira, who had tears pouring down her face. She looked between the two men frantically, pleading silently with them both; two men whom she knew wouldn't listen.

Sure enough, Erol was the first to react, raising his gun and slamming the butt into Jak's stomach without warning. Reacting quicker than even he anticipated, Jak fired off a shot in the general direction of the Commander, whose quick reflexes unfortunately saved him from gaining a new body hole. Sliding across the floor, he kicked Jak's feet from under him, sending him crashing to the ground. Before he hit the floor completely, he stretched his hands out to stop himself crashing completely, metal shrapnel and little screws and bolts slicing his hands open as he did. Wincing in pain from the embedded shrapnel, he got up, ducking from a punch from Erol and landed one of his own straight in the weasel's stomach. He doubled over long enough for the damaged man to deliver a hard kick to the face – luckily, or unluckily, depending on one's point of view, he had his Krimzon Guard mask down almost from the second he'd kicked Jak's legs out from under him.

The younger man sprung back onto his feet, fists clenched, body hunched defensively, growls hissing from his throat. "Want more, _Commander?_"

_I know when I've lost, _the named Guard thought, straightening himself up, dusting off his uniform absentmindedly and attempting bravado. "Well, Jak. I must say, you fought better today than you did two years ago. And all for _that_ whore's hand!" He spat at a terrified, curled up Keira's feet as she pressed herself up against her destroyed Zoomer. "Well, seeing as you fought so hard for her, you may as well know who the father of her bastard son is. I certainly don't know. That bitch never told me,"

Jak's temper flared. "Don't you dare talk about Keira that way, or her son!"

Erol cocked his head, face growing its own half-smile. Picking up his service gun, he slid it back into his holster and strode out of the garage. "I'll see you later, _Jak_. You..." He whirled back around to face. "I hope the next time I see you, you're roadkill. Otherwise, I will _make_ you so."

Without another word, the evil Commander left the garage, metal crunching under his boots. The only sounds he left behind in the ruined garage was the sound of heavy breathing from both Jak and Keira, and not the kind of heavy breathing they'd been doing this morning.

"Keir, you okay?" the blonde asked, walking over and squatting down to assist his girlfriend.

_You may as well know –_

She inhaled and winced sharply. "My ribs...I th-think they're broken." She curled up against Jak and he held her tightly for several long minutes.

– _who the father of –_

The young mechanic had a question in her throat.

"How did you know when to come in?"

"I finished doing what it was Torn asked me to and I just happened to be passing the Stadium," he explained, stroking her teal hair. "Lucky I did, huh?"

– _her bastard son is._

"Wh-where's Daxter?"

"Right here, baby. Ya miss me?" Daxter leapt onto Jak's shoulder, appearing into Keira's eyeline.

"Yeah, where _did_ you go?"

"Hey, buddy, I wasn't exactly gonna stick around for the explosions!" the ottsel interjected. His best friend simply raised his eyebrows, shaking his head with a smile.

Keira chuckled, wincing again as the action moved her damaged ribs. "Ow..."

"Okay, let's get you back," the blonde said. "You alright to stand?"

"Yeah..."

"C'mon, I'll help you."

As the young mother stood up, she was holding her breath in hope that Jak wouldn't ask her about what Erol had said. Normally, he wasn't the type to ask questions until hours or days later, often whenever it had been brought up.

As the trio walked/ struggled out into the white clouded day, however, Keira's hopes were dashed.

"Erol said something about Daniel's real father..."

Her heart fell and she looked at Daxter, who shrugged. _You tell him, I ain't breaking the news to him._

"I never...told him," she gasped, slackening her grip around Jak's waist with subtlety. "I never...told him who Danny's real father was. I told Danny...he knows..."

_...I certainly don't know._

Jak fell silent, a lump forming in his throat. He wasn't sure whether he liked where this was going, which is why the next four words changed everything.

"Jak, you're his father,"

_The bitch never told me._

For a moment, he wasn't sure if he heard her properly. He shook his head and squinted at her as if his eyesight had suddenly deteriorated in the last four words.

"What?"

She took a deep, ragged breath and began again. "When you..._ah_...when you disappeared...the day you...disappeared I took a test after I missed my third period. It was positive..." She winced, inhaling sharply. "I was going to tell you...when you came home...but you never did...you never returned..." She held in tears; she did not want to cry in front of Jak again. "I had Danny six months later, a few months after...after I properly moved in with Erol. I knew all...along that you...were his father, but...something told me...not to tell Erol. S-survival, I guess. Lucky me." She coughed, her whole body shaking.

_She never told me._

Jak's mouth was dry.

"I'm...Danny's dad?"

"Oh, c'mon buddy, could ya not tell?" Daxter interjected. "The kid's the spittin' image of ya, right down to the whole mute thing,"

_He can't speak._

Jak was rendered speechless as he helped Keira onto the Zoomer, climbing on and starting the engines. Her arms around his waist, he set off back to the Bunker, on complete autopilot as he cruised through the city after what he'd just been told.

_I'm...I'm a _father?

"_La fortuna ti sorride quando non sta guardando; sacvi quel buco profondo."_


	17. Il Centro

**A/N: Hello everybody! Thanks for patience and reviews and suchlike...I'm sorry this one's taken so long, I keep hitting walls every so often. I think this one will close in a few chapters' time, but we'll see where it goes. Meanwhile, chapter 17. Read, review or no 18. :) ~ Mika**

Jak's mind was still numb all the way from the Stadium as he drove – notably more carefully than normal, minding his girlfriend's injuries – back towards the Underground. His mind turned over and over as he did so, thinking – something else he rarely did on a regular basis – about what Keira had told him.

_I'm a father? More to the point, I'm _Danny's _father?_

He was growing to like the kid anyway over the three days he had known him, but to hear this from Keira changed everything. Shaking his head, he turned sharply to avoid a wall and Keira moaned in pain from behind him.

"Sorry, Keir!" he said over his shoulder. Hearing a deep sigh come from his girlfriend, he gently accelerated as he rounded the last corner to the Bunker. Landing just as gently, he swung one leg over it, careful not to kick Keira in the face, and helped the young woman off just as the door slid open and Samos emerged.

_Oh great_, Jak thought, heart sinking. _The last thing _any_ of us need._

"Keira!" the Green Sage/ Underground leader exclaimed. "What's happened to you? Jak, what happened to her?"

"She ran into Erol at the garage and he put a boot into her chest," Jak replied, anger filling his voice the further along he got. "I think she's got a few broken ribs – "

"Keira, come here," the Sage interrupted.

"Daddy..." the injured woman panted, breath coming out in short gasps. "Don't be too hard...on Jak. If...he hadn't stopped by...the Stadium...I wouldn't be h-here." She coughed, blood splattering on the floor, groaning in pain. "He saved...me."

"Is this true?" Samos asked.

All the blonde could do was shrug. His other mouthpiece, meanwhile, had an answer clearly prepared.

"Yeah, _we_ did!" he interjected. "In fact, I did most of the work. Jak just...took care of Keira,"

"Daxter! I wasn't asking you!" the short man interjected. "So Erol is dead?"

"Regrettably, no, although if I wasn't stopped I would have taken care of him once and for all," Jak replied, resting his gaze on Keira. _If you hadn't stopped me..._

"You would...have been killed...if I hadn't," she gasped, doubling over in pain. "I...I'm not...losing you again...to _h-him_." She squeezed her eyes shut, containing the physical pain but her emotional pain manifested in the tears that escaped. Turning himself and his daughter away, her father muttered something and both Hagais went inside, the door sliding shut behind them.

For a few minutes, Jak and Daxter just stood there, the wind whistling in their ears, before following the two inside. Just as they entered the Bunker, a smaller, blonde presence ran into Jak's knees and fixed his big blue eyes upon those of his newly-revealed father's.

"Dada?" he questioned. "Dak?"

Jak nodded, stunned by Danny's sudden speech. Maybe the kid had finally broken through his thick, silent barrier. "Yeah, kid. I'm your dada Jak,"

"Dak no!" Danny jumped up and down, grin wider than his eyes, arms outstretched. "Dak no, Dak no, Dak no!"

"What? Who knows?" Jak's forehead creased in confusion as he squatted, eye level with the infant.

His little son stopped jumping and pointed at him. "Oo Dak,"

"Yeah," the blonde said slowly. "I'm Jak..."

"Me Danny," the small child said. "Dak no...Dak my dada,"

It finally clicked for the 24-year old. "Jak knows that he's Danny's daddy?"

The toddler nodded furiously.

The renegade smiled. "Yes he does. I mean, I do – "

He was cut off by the small boy leaping up and locking his arms tightly around his neck.

"Hey, buddy. Your infant son's hangin' off your neck, in case you ain't noticed,"

"Bwaaahhhh, Danny!" Jak mock-growled, locking his own arms around the toddler and standing up. "You are a heavy boy. What's Mama been feeding you, huh?"

The little boy in his arms giggled, reminding Jak of Keira. His abused heart warmed just then, the good feeling alien, almost forgotten to him.

"Speakin' of Mama..." He shifted the child onto his hip, letting the feeling spread through him, savouring it. "Let's go see how she's doing,"

"She doing?" Danny repeated, little brow creased in confusion.

Jak licked his lips. "Mama got hurt...by a very bad man,"

"Ehol?" Danny asked, eyes widening in panic.

"How does he know Erol?" Jak whispered to Daxter.

Daxter rolled his eyes. "Have you just ignored everything Keira told you?"

"Oh yeah." Jak turned his attention back to his child. "It's okay, Danny. He's not here. He can't hurt you anymore. Not while I'm here." He tried to smile reassuringly, but the child still looked worried, fist in his mouth.

"Hurt Mama," he said.

Jak bit his lip. "Yeah, he did. But that was Daddy's fault...I wasn't with Mama when she was at her garage." He shook his head, defying the guilty feelings seeping into his brain. "Anyway, let's go see how Mama's doing."

"'Kay," Danny replied, withdrawing back into himself. Sighing internally, Jak made a mental note to not mention Erol around the child ever again as he made his way towards the medical section of the Underground.

~x~

Seething with humiliation as he strolled out the garage, Erol made his way back to the Palace, body throbbing from the after effects of the fight with the Eco freak. He wasn't sure whether he was more humiliated by the fact that he was defeated in a fight or defeated by _Jak_, of all people.

Thinking about it just pissed him off to a degree reserved for everyday life and there was no way that he could shift it from his mind. He hated the freak; hated him with every cell in his body, every millimetre and less of himself. This hatred was so intense, he barely noticed he was an inch away from crashing into a wall until the nose of his Zoomer was scraping it. Turning sharply, he vowed to make it his mission to destroy the freak, his whore of a girlfriend and their brat –

He braked sharply as the realisation of what he'd just thought hit him.

_Their brat. Their child._

Growling with frustration, Erol worked things out aloud.

"So, let's summarise this. He steals my _girl_..."

"Hey! Watch it!" a man yelled.

Erol ignored it, continuing to talk to himself. "He didn't _die_ in that Mar-forsaken chamber...and, to top it all off, he's the father of that little bastard brat she had."

Gut twisting in a way he didn't like, he parked the Zoomer in a hidden place round the back, got off and clenched his fists tightly.

He knew what he had to do, and he would die doing it, if that was what it resulted in.

However, if at least the freak died with him, then all was just in the world.

An unpleasant smile crossed his face as he strolled


	18. Guilty

**A/N: HELLO everybody! Thanks for reviews and suchlike...I'm going to be out tomorrow and Saturday night so this is the last update til Sunday. You will hate me for this, the reason being at the end : ) I may try and get an update sorted before then, but given that the next two chapters will most likely be the last two and you know my tradition of the Final Double-Update...Anyway, I will shush and let you read and review. Else no climax. Es. And no, Marn, not in that way ;) ~ Mika**

Over the next six months, Jak and Keira's relationship was rekindled with as strong a fire as the pair could manage – which, on many nights, was enough to require heat-proof clothing. Jak also made sure that he spent as much time with Danny as possible, who seemed to open up and gain a spark around his father.

The damaged man was learning anew about the world and his son as much as his son was learning about his father and the world.

Keira also grew slowly in courage, no doubt helped by friends, her father and her boyfriend. The bruises and some of the physical scars from Erol's fist gradually faded, but the young woman still had nightmares and rarely slept. She was also more withdrawn than Jak had known her to be, but slowly, she was coming out of that rare, uncharacteristic state of hers.

She still wouldn't venture far outside the Bunker on her own, however, and that he was fine with. In Jak's view, as long as Erol couldn't touch her, she was safe.

~x~

_**During those months...**_

"So tell me!"

"No,"

"You've told me everything else, why not this?"

A laugh. "Because it's not important, maybe?"

"Keir, honey, you've told me a million things that...later turn out to be unimportant," he quickly corrected himself upon a green-laser-eyed glare. "Why not this one?"

She sighed, the glow in her face fading. "I just...I don't...like talking about it."

"Keir." He took her hands, sought her eyes, looking deep into them. "Please. Tell me. It's just the one piece of the puzzle that I need to understand what happened to you over the past two years completely. A hundred per cent. You know what I mean,"

"And yet you haven't told me much more about what happened to you!"

"That would be because it's all more of the same," he replied dryly. "Dragged out cell. Half hour exercise. Long hours of torture. Thrown back in the cell with food. Rinse and repeat,"

"Oh," Keira sighed, looking around instinctively. "Where's Danny?"

Jak raised his eyebrows in a "guess where and who with" statement.

"With the Kid?" she ventured.

Jak nodded.

"I'm so glad he's broken out of that mute state," she said reflectively, meaning her son. The Kid was still not talking – and going by what Kor has said about the child's true identity before being defeated by Jak, it would be another eleven to thirteen years before he did so. "And so young too,"

"Yeah, Danny only had to live with Erol for the first two years to break his barrier," Jak replied sarcastically.

Keira said nothing, running her fingers lightly over Jak's hands. "Okay...well...you know everything else. You might as well know what happened the morning after I _did_ go back with him, having no choice in the matter..."

~x~

_**Two years ago**_

Keira was just waking up to a white-lit morning when she felt a pressure on her ankle. Amazingly, she resisted the urge to flinch, wishing that when she opened her eyes it would be Jak, back from wherever he actually went, playing a prank on her as he loved to do. She could see it now – waking up and turning around and then falling into his deep blue eyes as she found herself doing on many an occasion.

"Miss me?" he'd say, and she would pretend to get angry with him but then smile as he walked round the bed and allowed himself to be enveloped in her arms, kissing her passionately and then...

Keira smiled as what she would like to happen unfolded in her mind. Just then, the pressure on her ankle released, and a warm, hard sensation travelled up her leg.

Suddenly, the mechanic's fantasies dissipated as hard reality hit her. She was in a KG Captain's spare bed, an hour or two from home and with a broken Zoomer somewhere in the vicinity. To add further injury, Jak was clearly still missing, as she had not been woken with any news.

The sensation got beyond her knee and up her very sensitive inner thigh. She froze, regulating her breathing to fool him into thinking she was still asleep, body tense, ready to fight back if he tried anything.

"You're a pretty girl," he breathed, voice containing an edge that made Keira uncomfortable. "In fact, you're a beautiful girl. Are you single? Do you have family?" He sighed. "I suppose you won't tell me...yet. Though when you wake up I'll make sure you tell me..."

Keira chose that moment to withdraw her leg, making it as if she was stirring in sleep. A sob formed in her throat, growing like the child inside her.

"Huh." The Captain sighed. "I guess that will not be for a while yet. No matter. I'll be waiting when you do awaken – "

A buzz cut him off. The young woman let out a slow sigh of relief, hoping it would mean his leaving.

"Yes? Yes...I know!" he said, tone changing to one of irritation. "I'll be there soon." He flipped his communicator shut and gazed at what he thought was the sleeping mechanic. "Like I said...I know you can't hear me...but I will be back. And _then_ I'll have some answers from you." He turned and walked out the room, slamming the door dramatically behind him.

Keira counted the breaths until she heard what she thought was the front door slam. As soon as she heard his Zoomer pull off, she sprung out of bed as if it was on fire and raced around the house, heart pounding, looking for any tools Erol might conveniently have lying around the house, trying not to think about what he'd just done, although she couldn't stop the shameful tears pouring out of her eyes. She panicked, heart racing quicker than that of a hummingbird's, as she threw open every cupboard, opened every door, even unlocking the doors and venturing outside and into the garage.

No tools. Not even a sign of her wrecked Zoomer.

She didn't know Erol, but she had the horrible feeling that what he'd done just now was not the worst thing he would do if she stayed; which she had to for now.

She was stuck here for the foreseeable future.

Slinking off back to bed, she curled up under the sheets wrapped her arms around her middle, holding in her fears and tears as she drifted off.

~x~

_**Present day**_

"Shit..." Jak breathed. "He touched you up when you were sleeping – when you were pretending to be asleep?"

Keira nodded.

"Precursors..." He pushed his hair off his face, unable to believe that Erol would do that. _Although, if he would beat a woman into submission and dependency and terrorise her son, then of _course_ he would do that_, he reasoned angrily with himself, feelings of guilt returning.

Keira took several deep breaths, calming herself down from the memories. _Think. Think about something else. Take your mind off it._

Just then, with the timing of his father, Danny ran in, shouting "Mama, Mama!"

"What is it, little one?" Keira managed her face into a smile. "What's wrong?"

"Milk all gone," he replied, sadness underscoring his face.

"The milk's all gone?" Jak repeated.

"Milk all gone, Daddy," Danny said, turning his large blue eyes upon the man he inherited them from.

"I'll go and get some more," Keira said, getting up, but Jak put a hand on her arm.

"What about..." He stopped, raising his eyebrows.

Keira smiled. "Jak, I can't keep hiding inside the Bunker forever, scared he's going to find me." Her shoulders dropped, as did her voice. "I _am_ scared...but...I need to face my fear. To go outside and conquer it. Besides, there's a few things I need to get as well." The couple stood up together.

Jak pulled her into an embrace. "You gonna have your comm. on you?"

"Yeah," she said, muffled.

"Good." He buried his face into her hair. "Gimme a shout if _he_ turns up, 'kay?"

"You know I will." She giggled, pulling away, letting her fingers linger on his chest. "I'll be back soon. Hear that, Danny?" She bent down, making eye contact with her son. "I'll be back soon,"

" 'Kay," her son replied, little fists near his mouth. His mother picked up the bag by her side of the makeshift bed and ventured outside the room, making her way out of the Underground.

Taking a few deep breaths of fresh air, she ventured round the corner, keeping her head down and her thoughts on something else she needed to get. Like the first time, she wasn't entirely sure and wouldn't be so until she visited a shop.

She was both scared and excited at the same time.

She had just turned a corner when she heard footsteps behind her. Whirling around, her eyes widened at who she was confronted with.

He smiled wickedly, eyes glittering in delight.

"Surprise, _sweetheart_."

He brought the butt of his gun down hard and she felt an exploding pain in her head before spiralling into darkness.

_Danny...Jak..._

She saw their eyes, the same in colour but vastly different in expression.

_I'm sorry._


	19. The Hand vs The Head and The Heart

The day brightened and darkened quicker than anyone liked, especially Jak, whose fear grew bigger every minute he didn't see or hear Keira return. When Torn gave him and Daxter, as the neon orange ottsel would call it, "crappy missions", he did them with little heart thrown into them. So little heart, in fact, that the ottsel took a break from his tall stories and hiding behind Jak's ears to notice.

"Hey, buddy! A little off target today, are we?"

"Hungh?" Jak hauled his thoughts back to reality. "What?"

"I SAID..." Daxter took a deep breath, causing his little furry body to swell up with contained air. "You. Seem. Off. Today. Preoccupied, distracted, unfocused, diverted, sidetracked, "

"I thought you were gonna launch into this long speech about _how_ I was distracted today," Jak noted, chuckling.

"I _was_,"

"But?"

"But, but, but – JAK, WALL!"

"Wha – " Jak pulled the Zoomer up sharply before actually looking and realising that there was no wall. In his ear, the ottsel shrieked with laughter turning into an actual shriek as Jak accelerated sharply round a tight bend, smirking in revenge.

"Ya know, if it wasn't so late, I'd get you back for that!" the ottsel harrumphed, reasserting himself on Jak's shoulder. "D'ya think Keira's back yet?"

The blonde warrior let out a long sigh. "Hope so. Danny was nervous and clingy every time I left. Promised him I'd be back, but I can't say the same for Keira." He hopped off the Zoomer and decided to walk across the rich, green fields in front of the Stadium.

"Ya think she's here?"

Jak took in a good amount of heavy, filthy air, taking out the Morph. "I hope so." Flicking through the individual mods, he checked to see how much of each he had, just in case, as was common in Haven, they encountered anything or anyone unwanted.

Slinging the gun around his shoulder, he released the breath he didn't realise he was holding and strolled towards the Stadium, senses on high alert for Krimzon Guards, Erol or anything out of place.

~x~

Keira struggled against her bonds, eyes fixed on the thin man standing in front of her, perennial evil grin on his face. She worked her teeth against the rag clinging to her mouth, but when the strands of material started to insinuate themselves between them she gave up.

The man in front of her let out a long, wicked laugh, full of self-satisfaction. Keira glared at him. How she _longed_ to plant something sharp into his body many times until he stopped moving, or cave his skull in with a wrench; she wasn't a fussy woman.

"You can try all you want. Not even that freak is looking for you." Erol idly glanced at the magazine of his gun, ensuring it was full. Even if the blonde freak did find them, he would be dead before the sole of his boot landed in the room.

Taking a deep breath, closing her eyes and using her tongue to force down the revolting rag to her chin, Keira was finally able to speak, if only in defence of her boyfriend. "Jak is _not_ a freak, and even if he was, you're the bigger one!"

"Oh yeah?" Erol suddenly swooped down, grabbing the young woman's jaw in his hand and squeezing it so hard her teeth became embedded inside her cheeks. "Who says? You, a no-good whore who simply happens to be good with a wrench? That bastard brat of yours...and the freak's, come to think of it?"

Keira felt a chill run down her spine, pooling into panic at the bottom of her stomach. _He knows. He knows about Jak being Danny's father._ Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet his, locking on like a snake locking onto its prey.

Briefly glancing aside for merely a second, she saw that he was squatting, one leg either side of her right one, leaving his groin wide open for attack.

She smirked, bringing her knee up quickly. _Revenge._

The Commander howled, crumpling like a ball of paper under the pressure of a hand. Keeping his legs tightly closed and grunting in pain, he regained his position and struck Keira across the face with the butt of his service revolver. Yelping in pain, she curled up defensively, mouth filling with blood.

"That sound you make," the evil man grunted. "I always knew you were a bitch and that yelp just proved it,"

"Not as loud as the scream you made when my knee met your balls." Keira laughed thickly, spitting out blood and teeth. "You sure you actually _felt_ anything down there, Erol? You never did have very much..."

"Are you sure that you want to be talking to me in that manner?" Erol hissed, ice punctuating his tone.

"Absolutely sure," Keira growled back. "For two years, you tortured me, you kept me prisoner, you _threatened my son_!" Her tone rose. "Not only that but you were busy pumping Dark Eco and Mar-knows-what into Jak at the same time!"

"Just Dark Eco," Erol said dryly. "Nothing else. Well, maybe sedatives on occasion, and we got them imported so who _knows_ what they contained..."

Keira let out what could only be described as a growl, unable to think of a comeback.

Erol smirked. "I win, do I? Then what's my prize?" He put his finger to his chin, pretending to think. "Oh! I have an idea..."

~x~

It was the screams that drew Jak's attention to the upper levels of the Stadium. He recognised them immediately – frightened, pain-filled, female – _Female?_

"KEIRA!" he yelled, sprinting up the stairs round the back as the screams continued, growing louder, distressingly filling his ears. He used them as guidance towards where he hoped Keira was as he leapt down corridors, up stairs and off edges, drawing his Morph and reaching a dark door, behind which the screams continued, punctuated with sobbing.

Raising a boot, he kicked the door down, Morph pointed ahead of him. What he saw activated the Dark Eco, the substance pushing at the very walls of his veins.

"GET OFF HER!" he roared, face reddening, finger on the Blaster trigger.

"Jak?" Erol gasped in shock, attention momentarily diverted from his hostage. Roughly pulling out of her, he re-concealed himself with clothing before fumbling for his service gun. Keira scrabbled away from him, bloodied, clothes torn, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh, so you remembered my name, huh?" Jak spat, aiming and firing at Erol's hand just as it got near the gun. Unfortunately, he missed, but succeeded in coaxing a most feminine yelp from the Commander. The older man clenched tightly to the smaller gun, aiming it at the blonde's head.

"Well, well, well." The redhead laughed coldly. "Here we are again. You. Me. Her." He sniffed at the cowering, sobbing woman in the corner. "This all for _her?_ Really, Jak? You're a bigger freak than I thought..."

"At least I'm not a woman-beating abusive coward," Jak hissed, wanting just to shoot him and get out with Keira.

"Who has serious repression issues!" Daxter added.

Erol growled. "Nobody asked you, rat,"

"Hey! Short-arse! Jak didn't ask _you_ to knock Keira 'bout for two years but ya did anyway!" the ottsel interjected back, more offended by the derogatory "rat" than anything.

"She was never yours, freak!" Erol hissed at Jak, temper inflamed by the comment regarding his height.

"_Keira_ was never _anyone's_, Erol. She's a human with much the same choice as everyone else." Jak slowly lowered the gun, the laser running down the Commander's body. "Although you took that away from her, didn't you? _Monster._"

"Me? The monster?" Erol laughed. "Who's the one who, when he gets angry, _changes?_ Becomes another creature entirely?"

_Almost there..._

He bit the inside of his lip.

"Who, without thought or reason, kills anything and everything he sees?" Erol continued, not noticing Jak's actions.

The Blaster laser finally rested on the Commander's foot.

"Huh?"

Jak put pressure on the trigger.

"It's not me..." Erol smirked, but not for long as he saw where the Morph was aimed. "Oh, shi – "

_Pew._

For the second time that day, Erol uttered a scream that sounded more feminine than masculine. Taking advantage of his opponent's pain, Jak ducked towards Keira, scooping her up in his arms and running out the room faster than his legs could humanly carry him. Only, he wasn't fully human; not any longer.

Keira moaned and shivered in his arms as he ran, clinging on tightly to him. He tried to reassure her as he ran, but it was hard to do both of those at the same time, and he knew he had to conserve breath else he would slow and Erol would catch up with them. Gently lowering Keira onto the single-seat Zoomer before swinging onto it in front of her, he instructed her to hold on before taking off.

When the sound of another single-seat Zoomer reached Jak's ears at the same speed he was going, he knew then not to head straight towards the Underground. As shots whistled past his ears, he ducked and leapt, changing zones and taking sharp turns when necessary. His heart raced, his breathing getting more and more shallow – part fear, part exhilaration.

_Click._

He knew then what he had to do.

"Keira, take the wheel, and when you do, slow the Zoomer down!" he yelled to his girlfriend.

"Are you mad?" she yelled, releasing his waist instantly and digging her fingers into the back of the seat, having regained some measure of strength.

"Just do it!" Jak yelled.

"_Fine!_" she yelled back. "I need to get there first!"

Slowly, Jak twisted himself around on the still-speeding machine, steadying himself with the Morph. Eventually, when he was steady, Keira crawled between his legs, taking the wheel as instructed. Although she wasn't a confident driver, she felt safer knowing _someone_ was driving.

Jak switched to the Peacemaker, charging it as he watched the red dot of Erol's Zoomer draw closer and closer. He felt the machine slowing as he'd asked, the Peacemaker's whine at its highest.

Erol's features got more distinguishable, and very soon he was within the range of the 'Maker.

"You. Don't. Win. This!" the deranged Commander yelled, not showing any signs of slowing.

"Jak, HURRY!" Daxter and Keira yelled simultaneously.

The blonde man raised the Peacemaker.

"You're wrong, Erol!" he yelled. "I have one thing you don't,"

The other man's face creased in a snarl. "Oh yeah? What would that be?"

The damaged warrior aimed straight for the Zoomer, a cocky smile on his face.

"A big fuckin' gun."

He aimed the 'Maker and released the trigger, savouring the look on Erol's face as he watched the ball of electricity arc towards him.

"Off the Zoomer _now!_" Jak yelled, diving off and grabbing Keira's hand as she climbed off. Shielding her with his body, he watched with satisfaction as electricity met red Zoomer, causing a hot, bright, noisy explosion directly in the middle of the square. The blackened Zoomer crashed to the ground and Erol sailed through the air, landing, as fate would have it, not too far away from the little group.

Switching to the Blaster, Jak got up, strolling towards the Commander, who by some miracle was still alive, albeit dirty, bloody, burned and mightily pissed off. His breath came in heaves, eyes alight with anger.

"Now who's on their back, Erol?" Jak sneered, cocking the Blaster. He looked over the fallen man, noting with pleasure that he had no weapon on him with which he could defend himself. "You got nothing to say? Well, that's unusual. You always have something to wrap your tongue around...and I'm not just talking about words here,"

"Oooooh!" Daxter exclaimed. "Want some ice for that burn, Erol? Or rather...burns. Gonna need a lot of ice for that, although I've heard they don't have ice in Hell,"

"You will pay for this!" the deranged Commander hissed, pupils contracted in anger.

Jak rolled his eyes. "I'm sure I will, but not by _your_ hand." Hefting the Vulcan up and taking a step back, he rested the laser on Erol's forehead. He heard footsteps approach him and looked round to see Keira, fire in her eyes.

"May I?" she asked. She answered his look with "For both of us."

Jak nodded, handing her the gun, helping her with the weight. Focusing its laser on her abusive lover's forehead, she narrowed her eyes.

"This is for the two years you stole of our respective lives, for all the times you've beaten, raped, tortured, abused us separately but together," she snarled, eyes alight in fury.

"And also to make sure you don't come back as a cyber-ised version of yourself in a year's time," Daxter added.

Without another word, Keira jerked the trigger, supported by her boyfriend to prevent being knocked back by the force of the bullets. Eventually, she dropped the gun, sinking to her knees, and for a long time, Jak knelt beside her, holding her as the smoke from the gun cleared from the Commander's markedly still body.

After a long time, the group gathered themselves, got to their feet and strolled quite casually towards the Underground Bunker, the sun finally breaking through the smog for the first time in many a long year.

* * *

**A/N: Now, from this chapter (and the title of it), can you work out who is The Hand (La mano), who is The Head (la testa) and who is The Heart (il cuore)? Answers in a review...**


	20. Epilogue

_**Six months later**_

Jak took a long, relishing draft of his drink as fireworks exploded over Haven City, bringing colour to a city that had been deprived of it for many years. The Baron being dead and the Metal Heads supposedly no longer a threat, there was nothing for the young man to do except be a good father to his son and fiancé to Keira.

"Hey, boys," a rich, deep voice boomed in the Naughty Ottsel. "Long time no see,"

"Sig!" Jak and Daxter exclaimed joyfully, faces lighting up at the sight of the Wastelander.

"And...?" a gravelly, happy-sounding female voice came from behind the older man.

"Keira? That you?" Jak called. He was due to meet Keira in this very bar after a much-needed nap. A good friend of hers from the Stadium was babysitting Daniel – after hours of Keira having to persuade Jak that she really _was_ trustworthy, that is.

"Of course it is!" she exclaimed in a way that made him feel stupid. "Who else would it be?"

The young man couldn't prevent a smile creeping over his face as he laid his eyes on his fiancée. She was dressed in a simple green dress that brought out her eyes and flowed like a waterfall over the baby bump that had been present for the best part of three and a half months. There were two months to go before the baby concealed inside the young woman was due, during which, Samos had practically told the couple, they were due to be married. Jak had a feeling Samos would not allow him to have any more children if he didn't Do The Right Thing and marry Keira ahead of the birth. Keira had gone red and tried to figuratively pry her father off her boyfriend by that point.

"Want a drink?" her said boyfriend asked.

"Just water," she said, resting a hand on her prominent stomach. "Junior here's really playing up tonight..."

"Active, is he?" Jak asked, resting a hand over hers.

"Don't you mean _she?_" Keira countered, smiling.

Jak laughed, giving her a quick kiss before fetching the drinks. Finding a booth, the couple squeezed in, fingers intertwined.

"You sure you're okay?" Jak asked, rubbing his fiancée's back.

"I'm fine!" Keira insisted, laughing. "Well. Aside from being elephant-sized, that is..."

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that by the way," her boyfriend replied. "You're still the sexiest woman I know, even when you're seven months pregnant,"

Keira went red. "You're lucky I don't have a wrench right now..."

"Keir, honey, you need to learn to accept compliments, cause, like...you're gonna get to a point where they're gonna run dry..." Daxter slurred, suddenly popping up out of nowhere. "They...No, they'll STOP! And then...you're uh...you'll look like Onin...and your bum goes saggy – "

"Dax?"

"Nnnyush?" the inebriated ottsel replied, eyes unfocused.

"Go and drink some more,"

Daxter tried and failed to look offended, not helped by his enlarged pupils. "You don' tell...me what to do! No. No, no no. NO. No. No..." Burping, he spun around and fell face flat on the floor.

Keira giggled, giving Jak a long, hard kiss which held a promise she could never voice.

_You've got me in the palm of your hand..._

"I love you."

_You're in my head..._

"I love you too." He kissed her forehead and the couple sat back and watched the carnage unfold as the night developed, untouched by it all in their own little world. Untouched for the first time in two years for both of them. That was the way they wanted it to be; to remain untouched.

At least, until Jak was called up to save the world again. And he didn't doubt that would be soon.

He just hoped it wouldn't be too soon.

_You have my heart._

**The End**

**YEAAHHHH WE'RE DONE! By the way: Erol was The Hand who abused Keira and Jak, Keira was The Heart for obvious reasons and Jak, being stubborn and rash, is The Head. And I'm gonna go back to "Blood Ties" because it is my physical addiction and I've missed it...I'm also replaying "Jak 3" and have re-collaborated my old Writing List so it'll be like July-December 2010 all over again. Wewt. Stuff.**

**Not sure when I'll be back with those promised vignettes. If I get to 10 then I'll start posting. Regardless, I'll be around. Have a looksee.**

**MikaHaeli8**

**13/02/11**


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